Escape The Night, The First Act
by The Imaginative Lightbulb
Summary: Alistair Green is a normal Film University student, who's managed to end himself at a magical carnival of the century! When he invites 16 of his most trusted friends to the adventure of a lifetime, they have little knowledge of what secrets this Carnival holds! When things go south as soon as the participants arrive, Who will survive, Who will die, and Who...Will (DEAD FANFICTION)
1. Prologue

**Author's Note!  
** Here's a small note for everybody. Not that many people know about Escape the Night, but here's a quick overview. This is a novel of characters that users on Amino let me use for this story, with the permission of killing their characters off. Escape the Night is a Youtube Premium show about YouTubers being invited to something, but everything goes haywire and they start dying one by one. If you haven't watched the show, I really suggest that you do, just to get an idea of what this Fic will be about. With all that said, please sit back, relax, and enjoy _Escape the Night: The First Act!_

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 _Prologue: A Beginning to Very Unfortunate Events_

* * *

Halloween was _over_. Of course, everyone in Alistair's neighborhood would be suffering from what he called "Candy withdrawal." Candy Withdrawal is basically a symptom that happens when all of the kids in the neighborhood splurged on Halloween Candy, and when they ran out they would all become sugarless zombies. It was fun seeing parents walk around with their kids who crave sugar. Just watch what it was like during the week after Christmas.

But that's not what this story is about.

This story is about pain. The type of pain that this story is about is not temporary, but instead, it's a permanent pain, one that'll last for a very long time. Of course, Alistair does not yet know about this pain. But when the pain hits, Alistair's world will be completely changed. For the worse, instead of the better.

But that story has not begun yet.

Alistair had just woken up. It was a Saturday, which was the one day he got off from work. Honestly, working at a Cafe all week was _Really_ tiring. Not just because he hated practically everyone who dared to breathe next to him, but the fact that he hadn't gotten his paycheck for 2 weeks, and the landlord was getting a bit restless. So of course when he heard that one employee could take the day off, Alistair quickly sprung for the opportunity as soon as he heard.

Alistair had nothing exciting planned. just a bit of lounging around in his small apartment, maybe order some Little Ceasar's and watch some Netflix. But of course, his brain pestered to get him outside and do something.

 _Cmon!_ His brain bickered, and Alistair just let out a groan. _You haven't gotten a chance to walk outside ever since you've started your new Job! Not to mention you're still going to film school! Just take a walk!_

"But I don't wanna!" He complained to himself, turning over on the couch and taking a long slip on his Caramel Macchiato.

 _Ok, Fine!_ His brain retaliated. _You can take ONE nap and then you have to take a walk through Central Park!_ Alistair sighed, agreeing with his brain. He then grabbed the woolen blanket on top of the couch and shifted himself over to get in a nice, comfortable napping position. And soon, he slipped off into a deep, child-like sleep, IN which he would want to wake up from.

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He woke up. Well, He wasn't Awake-Awake. He was just, awake inside a dream. Like when you feel a sort of feeling when you're not quite asleep, yet you're not quite awake either. Think of it as a sort of, Sleepy Weightlessness. But he wakes up. He's on the ground, dressed in a Nice Collared Long Sleeved White Shirt, along with a pair of a gentlemanly looking suspenders. His black dress shoes accompanied his Black & Gold watch on his wrist. He was on a dirt path, facing the front of one of those ticket collector things at Disneyland that won't let you in unless you have one.

"Hello?" He asked, getting off of the dirt path and standing up. His voice echoed throughout the forest, which went somewhat unnoticeable through the wooshing sound of the intense winds that swept through the atmosphere. Nobody was there, and he was sure of that.

"Who killed the party?" He asked, taking slow strides toward the gate. It seemed as if the more he got closer to it, the more intimidating it became. Alistair doesn't know where the _hell_ he is, or why he's there, or why there's an unsettling feeling that something's going to come out and stab him in the gut. All he knows is that something isn't right, At _all_.

Alistair approached the gate. He wiped his long fingers across one of the collecting booths, the largest amount of dust he's ever collected appearing on his finger. "Whoever made this place _really_ needs a better cleaning crew." Alistair thought that the bars keeping him from entering the carnival would be closed, but yet again he was wrong. Instead, he easily pushed into the carnival, crisp leaves sweeping past his feet. "Or better security."

He looks at his surroundings. A huge sign saying "CARNIVAL!" with the R hanging off loomed above the entrance, but it was far from larger than the Ferris Wheel in the distance. The dark magenta that colored the sky matched well with the carousel, not so far in front of him. And of course, not so far away was one of those Laser Tag places you played as a kid. The whole Carnival had a sort of eerie beauty that accompanied it. But of course, it certainly was not the time to appreciate the decor.

A swift gust of her wooshed past his back, as he turned around, hearing a collection of muffled whispers circling him. "Hello?" He asked, trying to see who would be behind him. "Reveal yourself!"

The wind only got stronger. The whispers became less muffled and instead became louder than ever. Alistair whipped his head and body everywhere but instead found nothing but his fear growing larger than ever. He took this as the opportunity to book it, deeper into the carnival than ever. Thunder booms in his ears as he takes off deeper into the night.

He doesn't know _exactly_ what he's running from. But all he knows is that he's running from something. Something _bad_. It begins to rain, but he doesn't care. He doesn't have the bloody time to care. He becomes soaked to the skin, his hair dripping with water. Of course, He's reasonably scared out of his damn mind, but he also has a sort of giddy excitement rushing through him. So, his mind not letting him wonder a minute longer, he pauses to take a breath.

And then he sees it.

A monster. An Ungodly monster. A strange creature, towering over him by at least a few feet. He was about 6'1, so the fact that it was towering over him was terrifying. The creature has a terrifying pixelated look, almost as if it's flickering in and out of reality. Its face was twisted into a terrifying position, a warped nose the size of a mallet hanging off the edge of rotting flesh. Its hands were formed into tentacles that outstretched toward Alistair's face, whispering one thing only.

 _Death._

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Alistair woke up with a cold sweat. His blanket was tossed onto the floor, soaked with sweat. He looks at his phone, and it was already 3:00 PM, even though he went to sleep at one. "Short Nap?" He scoffed, clicking open his camera app. He stared at himself through bloodshot eyes and a terrible case of bedhead. At least there was something called the bathroom. So, instead of walking outside (As he promised his conscience), he instead made some minor touchups to himself and his outfit, of course including his favorite article of clothing, Flannel.

Later on, he went on to the park. With a Beanie, Flannel, and some nice skinny jeans on his person, he gave his conscience a little relief and took an Uber to central park. Once he thanked the driver, he walked into the park, greeted by the passing of little woodland squirrels. And Moths, which he attempted to swat away with his phone. DId he mention he had a fear of Moths? They always greet you like you're a friend, but then they always come and attack you out of nowhere, attacking when you're the most helpless.

The park was absolutely beautiful, The trees turned into a deep orange and red, making the whole park light up like a switchboard light up like a giant Thanksgiving dinner. The woodland critters chirped and cheered all around him, terrifying him with their happiness. The babies and children and adults all walked around him, making him feel as invisible as possible. Which is what he was rather used to.

Then after at least 30 minutes of walking, he decided to sit down (Because he was terribly out of shape) and take a short little rest. Of course, he couldn't walk for 5 hours nonstop walking _without_ taking a break! Are you mental?! So, he took a quick rest.

In which he was promptly smacked in the face with a flyer.

"Ow!" He said, taking the flyer off of his face. "What the _actual_ Hell?!" He was tempted to throw the flyer into the trash, but instead, he was sort of, entranced by the flyer. The flyer was a dark magenta, the same color as the horrifyingly dark sky he saw from his dream, and in bold print letters "Come to the Caligari Carnival!" and in a smaller sort of letters it said "Home of Magic, Delight, and Wonder!"

 _Huh._ His conscience thought. _You could do this on the weekend!_ "But why?" He asked his conscience, not caring at all that he was in public. _Because you're a lazy pig with a day off! What more could you ask for?_

"That is a valid point." Alistair sighed, "Sure, Why the Hell not?"

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 **Author's Note!**  
Oh my god! I did not expect for me to finish this chapter so soon! Alistair has absolutely NO idea what he's in for! It's almost funny thinking that he's so clueless! Are you guys ready for the next chapter? IN the next chapter, all of the participants in this fun little experience all revealed! A bunch of fresh meat! Of course, there's a time-traveling mini-bus involved, because why not? Get ready for a bunch of craziness, as our 16 quests enter Caligari Carnival!


	2. Expect the Unexpected

**Author's Note!  
** Welcome to the next chapter of Escape the Night. It didn't have that good reception, but I believe that it'll grow to be something wonderful! IN this chapter, Invitations are delivered, out to every one of Alistair's friends, and we get to see a quick glimpse of the participants. These quests truly have no idea what they're up to! Enjoy their suffering, In this newest (and personallity great) installation in _Escape the Night, The First Act!_

* * *

 _Chapter 1: Expect the Unexpected_

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Alistair was feeling...Apprehensive. at first, he was rather excited that he had actually found something to do over the weekend but he wasn't sure _how_ he was going to do it. He had the location, he knew what was going to be there, but he didn't know how to set up a whole party. Would it be themed, or would it just be a casual party (He was rather indecisive. It was his weakness)?

"I don't know what to do!" He shouted, flopping onto his spinning chair. He twirled himself a few times, throwing the beads of nervous sweat off his face. He looked at the flyer again, shaking it in exasperated anger. "Tell me _Something_!"

And surprisingly, his prayers were answered.

"Look at the back..." A voice whispered from beside his left. He whipped to the left in fear, seeing no one there. _I must be going insane,_ he thought to himself, _I'm_ _going insane._ But, he begrudgingly obeyed the whispering voice. He turned over the paper, to find a specific set of instructions, directed toward him.

"Dear Alistair," He recited, twirling his stylus in his hands. "If you are confused, here is a valid explanation to your troubles." Alistair let out an exasperated, yet affirmatively curious groan.

"You will get a package in four days time that will specify the details on each of your Friend's outfits and personas. Deliver these packages to 16 friends of your choice, in which you'll be able to invite them all on the adventure of a lifetime. A time Travelling Mini-Van will come to pick you up on November 2nd, 6:00 PM." Alistair quickly checked his phone

 **November 2nd, 4:22**

 _Shit!_ Screamed his now worried brain as he hopped up from the couch. He quickly checked his front door, and there was a package about the size of a Flat Screen Television right at his door. It took at least half an hour for him to shove it through his doorway, but one he grabbed a steak knife, he was able to cut the sucker open. There were a bunch of letters wrapped in plastic along with a variety of different outfits inside, all "custom designed."

But the one that caught his attention the most was his own. The collared white shirt, The Brown trousers attached with Black suspenders straps. His silver and black watch with some nice fancy dress shoes, accompanied by a matching red neck scarf. He was truly excited for whoever made it. So, he ripped off the plastic and checked the tag, in which there was no cost, but instead, it said that it was made in the Underworld.

 _Probably some silly prank,_ His brain placated as he shoved off the place that it was made. He slipped into the outfit like a breeze, and while normally shoes are uncomfortable the first time you put them on, everything on his body hugged his curves in exactly the right way.

"Looks live I've got some planning to do." Alistair smiled at himself with a sly grin, as he flung his suspenders straps once more, before running back to the abnormally large package.

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The Sleek Mini-Van came in front of Bear's house. Of course, Bear was led to believe that it was going to be a mini-bus, but if he was supposed to go to some retro carnival, he felt that a Mini-Van would be suitable for the occasion. Which of course, made him very excited due to his best friend Mara coming with him on the trip.

Maria was The Record Producer for the night. With her Ombre purple, to orange, to yellow hair, she rocked an amazing Purple leather jacket (With too many zippers, but for the time being out of fashion, was IN fashion. Something that Bear could not possibly comprehend) accompanied with a tube top. With her diamond belly button piercing, she wore a Read Leather skirt, with Dark Maroon platform shoes with spikes near the bottom. Trust Maria to look like the expensive one. Maria endlessly clicked on her phone, which was like her child, and chewed on some Lotus flavored "Vegan" gum.

Bear decided to go a little bit out of his comfort zone and become a Pilot for the night. He wore a nice brown cap with some metallic goggles. He wore a Brown vinyl bomber jacket with beige faux mink fur inside the collar, around the cuffs and at the hem. A longe beige scarf whipped and shook around his neck. With his black jeans and Brown vinyl sneakers. He did click on his phone along with Maria, but he was trying out a new dating app called "ManKitty", and he could not pass up the clear opportunity to stop being forever alone.

"Read the letter again?" Maria asked. Of course, Maria needed to hear everything a couple of times to get it stuck into her head. If you didn't tell her multiple times, she would either forget or mistranslate the information somehow, which could lead to a _lot_ of bad shit.

"Ugh. Fine." He complained, stuffing his phone into his satchel and taking a piece of crumpled up paper out of his bag. He ripped out the letter, opening it as much as he could so that way it was at least legitimately readable. "My friends, I've been away for _far_ too long. And now, I have come across a recent discovery of a carnival, holding wonders of a lifetime."

Maria rolled her eyes at Alistair's attempt to sound smart. "Leave it to Alistair to make everything so _Goddamn_ dramatic."

"Ain't that the truth? Okur!" Bear and Maria did the little Cardi B thing together before Bear resumed to check the letter. "To attend, you must assume a persona reminiscent of the era I have placed in the costume in this package, and be dressed accordingly, or the van which can bring you across time will remain invisible to your eyes. And not only your clothing but your attitude must reflect the times. I have included your unique characteristics on the back of this invitation."

Honestly, it's been a weird week for Bear. Ever since he got the app, he's been meeting either 40-Year-Old perverts and little 13-Year-Olds coming out to him. And ever since he started working his shift with Alistair, he's been getting really high of coffee lately. So of course, Time travel doesn't seem as far-fetched to him as it would to anyone else. But, he reluctantly shrugs it off. "There will be people and creatures unique to this world that know their place, whom you will interact with. So with that information, you must be very cautious with those whom you interact with."

" _This_ is the part when I thought Alistair was High." Maria nodded.

"It may sound impossible, but there's a Carnival locked within time, hidden deep within the Woods, Trapped in the 1980's. If you are carrying anything from the modern world, the carnival will consume it whole." Bear continued, brushing some hair out of his face. While Bear's always loved living in the modern world, he's not one to say no to a bit of time travel. "I shall see you soon at this wonderful place. Farewell, And may the odds be in your favor."

"Sup Homesicles!" Elidia shouted from in front of them. It turned out the Mini-Van was smaller than bear thought, so he wondered how many people were in that thing. But, Elidia hung out the door waving at Maria and Bear Rapidly.

"Hey, El!" Bear waved, getting off of his porch and walking toward the small Mini-Van. Sure, it was nothing pretty on the outside, but once he entered the place, it was truly beautiful.

The Mini-Van wasn't so Mini after all. The inside was actually super long, full of nothing but a bunch of people. The inside of the van was painted with a holographic platinum, with the windows of the van decorated with metallic silver curtains. A long tunnel within the van was full of Red Leather chairs, with people of different sizes and colors all around them. Every time he clicked his flying shoes on the ground, it changed into an array of disco colors, in which he saw Alistair sitting at the front.

"Hey, Bear!" Alistair smiled, standing up and enveloping Bear in a hug. The hug did set Bear a little bit off, but he was ok with Human contact (Only for a little bit, however). Anyway, it was the perfect time to scan the crowd of people that had been invited and judge on their otherwise terrible fashion sense.

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 **Adam Creeke** , He didn't look too shabby for an engineering major. He wore a long white coat with dark blue jeans, accompanied with Black shoes. He wore a spangled white & gold shirt with a heart and stitches through the middle, bleeding gold out of it. Multiple bands and belts adorned his outfit with his scruffy and not at all elegant style of platinum hair with grey rings within his ears made him look like A shabby yet very threatening rich. Prison Escapee.

 **Ross Rig** , Now, If Bear didn't have a major crush on him he probably would've deemed him unworthy, but since Bear was boy crazy, he couldn't resist Ross's attraction. Ross wore something like some American Ninja warrior but 80's style. His curly red hair and calm smile suit the part, accompanied by a Black belt. With a ripped white shirt and jeans, Bear could not help falling head over heels before Maria slapped some sense across his face.

 **Christie Shiroyuki** , The girl looked impressive for a Law student. Her white braids with butterfly pins didn't make her look like an old lady, but instead, make her looks like an impressionable woman. Her brown combat boots and a white blouse, she successfully pulled off the impression of a huntress, completed with a small handgun on her side, which did throw Bear a little bit off.

 **Austin Fox** , Had played his part absolutely perfect. Of course, the fact that he was able to pull off fox ears was very astonishing, but the red and pink lotus robe that dragged across the floor was a very great costume exchange. His golden belt and kitsune like looks was a nice touch to his otherwise strange looks. He was a rather weird person after all.

 **Elidia Belleese** , Was super hot in that chic outfit. With her Black ombre to platinum blonde hair, her golden turtleneck Velma Dinkley themed sweater, with checkered skirt perfectly matched her zipped up Brown Cross between platform heels and combat boots and her Sunset sunglasses, she looked like a true photographer, and the thing that truly tied it all off was the large vintage camera hanging around her neck.

 **Crystal Bloom** , Didn't pay attention to her role _that_ well, but Bear could tell that she was at least trying. She also had fox ears like Austin, which =strangely made them look related. She dyed her normally white hair's edges bright red and painted a black Diamond on her eye, which showed that she at least cared. The rest of her outfit, however, was rather mediocre. She also wore a long-sleeved Blue and white striped sweater, accompanied with a red tie and black skirt with pink leggings.

 **Shima Itron** , Actually played her Magician part well. With her short blue hair and her Dark Magician's top hot, she completely rocked the fishnet pants with a short tuxedo dress with long sleeves, hugging her curves exactly. She had a red rose in her breast pocket poking out, and it seemed as if she was already dealing with a pack of cards she had brought with Adam. The only thing that would've made it perfect was if she brought her pet bunny.

 **Jasper Swan** , looked the part, and if you knew him well enough, you would know that he acted the park. With his red scarf and cigarette in hand, he lounged lazily across the leather chair. He straightened his Dark blue sweater with his collared red shirt, looking like some strange private academy student. He lounged in his black trousers and soccer cleats, laughing like he had all the money in the world.

 **Nova Crest** , looked like a straight up Badass. Since her role as a designer was clear, then her outfit matched perfectly. She sat, chatting with Jason in her Light Blue jeans with a Gold, White & Black jacket. She embraced her mixed self by exposing her flattering Afro, along with her gold hoop earrings. She flipped her hair endlessly, clearly spilling some tea, and he suspected for her to do so.

 **Kenneth Ambroz** , As an instigator, Kenneth looked like a true troublemaker. With his ripped Metalhead shirt that exposed his shoulders, he looked ready to beat someone up with his muscles and fingerless leather gloves. He wore a red bandana around his head, all wrapped up in a nice face-band. With his ripped jeans and back shoes in hand, he grabbed one of Jasper's Cigarettes, smiling his normally calm smile in the process.

 **Helena Veronica** , was probably better dressed than Bear himself. She's rather flamboyant at first sight (Flirting with Bear's MAN); with her sparkling magenta two-piece makes her look like a walking amethyst. Sure, The Two-Piece was a bit revealing, but for Helena, it was probably up to her standards. Laughing at Ross's jokes as her Long black hair sways with Silver 3-Hoop Earrings, with her Dark Blue Spice girls shoes, she looks about ready to dance the night away like she's never had before.

 **Angel Kori** , Still looked like a bloody backstabber. He used to go to High School with her back when he lived in Oregon, but also back then she was SUCH a good person. Then something just changed in her. With her Military themed Hat & Bell Bottoms, she twirled around in a Black tube top, showing off her outfit to the guys (Mostly the pervert Adam), making Bear want to gag.

 **Rice Calico** , looked as innocent as ever. With her pink butterfly dress and curly brown hair, she looked like a little child with her ginormous pink bow. She wore a lace white set of gloves, along with a pink handbag. She giggled with delight as she shoved a bit of toffee into her mouth, decorated with pink butterfly makeup. She wore a nice pink & gold necklace as her Adam's Apple went up and down with her girly laughs.

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A shadowed woman sat on the top of the Ferris wheel, stroking her staff. Within the staff held a glowing lime green orb, projecting a rather... _Familiar_ image. She stroked the orb as she watched the group of 16 college students rolls on by in their Time-Traveling van, watching as the laughed and conversated, not knowing what horrors they were going to come to. She looked at the 16 participants in her little game and smiled and awfully sly grin. Did Alistair _actually think_ that his problems were over just because of finding a flyer? She only sent that as a little hint, which of course he didn't catch as he invited all of his friends to die. He certainly should've known better.

She's rather glad she sent one of her soldiers to infiltrate his mind. She's proud that she chose such a bumbling idiot. Because with his help, she'll be able to finally descend over the trial called death and rule their precious little world with an iron fist. Well...Not _yet_.

If she wants to get back in the business of being the Harbinger of Death across the world, she needs a little work done. She needs about 13, if not more, innocent lives in order for all of her powers to be at work. She stroked her Devil Horns thoughtfully as she scrolled through each participants memories, measuring whether or not they could have the determined ability to survive. Slipping into unwilling people's dreams are rather easy, so she had the opportunity to strike whenever she wished.

A raven flew onto her shoulder, tangling itself between her Ebony locks that reached toward her waist. Her hair lifted itself up, managing to stroke the raven. "Yes, Zaabit. I know that 20 millenniums of being a raven HAS been tiring, but I think we've finally figured out what we shall do." She persuaded, twirling her finger on the orb.

 _"Time to give them a little scare..."_

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 **Author's Note  
** Wow! This was an exciting chapter! I think I've well enough introduced you to the characters, what they're wearing, and the big bad of the season! Who's excited about the next chapter? In that chapter, we truly get to see the pandemonium begin! A few people actually liked this story, which makes me really happy! I can't wait to come out with the next chapter! I'm sorry if some sections were short, but I wanted the Appearances to be clear. Anyways, thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time!


	3. An Exhilarating Experience

**Author's Note!  
** Woah! I truly did not expect for this series to get to the third chapter! Honestly, I thought I would quit this little thing by now! But now, I'm really, truly motivated to continue the story and truck on through it till the end! Now that I've got that past, Welcome to the Newest installation into the little Fanfic I call, _Escape the Night, The First Act!_

* * *

 _Chapter 2: An Exhilarating Expirience_

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Now, of course, Ross clearly isn't the kind of guy who goes to nights out on a regular basis. Between trying to manage all of his 3 jobs, and of course dominating his Dormmates in _Call of Duty_ , he doesn't get the chance to get out as much as he wants to. In fact, this is the first night out he's ever attended. He's not used to conversating or going out of his way to make friends, so the fact that Alistair even remembered that he existed was pretty shocking in itself. Was he actually ready? What if he trips over his own feet and makes a fool of himself in front of everyone? What if he forgets his manners or ends up falling off a cliff.

 _Chill Ross_ , he tells himself as he shoves his hands into his pants pockets. He takes a few continuous deep breaths, trying his best to stop himself from having a panic attack, but as soon as he sees Rice, he forgets how to breathe.

He's had a crush for a while now, and he still hadn't gotten over her once he saw her study hall. He was somewhat older than her while she was just 19. He had nicknamed her the name Rice as he always reminded him as a small and pure grain of rice, which couldn't become dirty no matter how hard you tried. So, eventually, Rice was called that so much, he was pretty sure that everyone had forgotten her real name. But once he saw her giggling in that cute pink dress, he couldn't help but try and hide his blush.

"Don't think I don't see you staring at Rice bro." Kenneth smiled, nudging Ross's shoulder, Ross just let out an annoyed groan and an exasperated eye-roll, before chuckling at Kenneth's claim. "Why don't you make your move?" Kenneth shoved Roos out of his chair, and directly toward Rice (Who was sitting across from him) and gave him a proud thumbs up.

"Hey, Rossie!" Rice smiled, waving at Ross politely. Of course, when Rice Facetimed him earlier, she said that she wanted her outfit to be a surprise, which Ross thought would be apparent bad news. But, now that he sees Rice in person, she looks _stunning_ in her pink butterfly dress. He looks at RIce, absolutely dumbstruck at her beautiful looks as she stroked her cinnamon-colored hair. He feels like 300 _slightly_ horny men are running a marathon in his brain, their feet pitter-pattering like a rushing train of thought.

"H-Hey Rice..." He waved back, making an awfully awkward smile at her. He could sense Kenneth glaring in utter disappointment. "How are you doing?"

"I-I'm doing well." She smiled, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. _Damn_ , his brain said, staring her right in the face. _How could she NOT look hotter?_

"You should maybe check your pants." Nova scoffed as she pointed to his groin. Ross looked down and it looked like the 300 slightly horny men got a little bit more horny, taking ever his brain completely. So, he put his hands over his balls in shame before walking away.

He _knew_ he would make a fool of himself somehow.

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It didn't take long for Elidia to get a bad feeling about this whole situation.

Time travel's impossible. She's _sure_ of it. As a Woman old logic and science, there could be _no possible way_ of the existence of time travel. And yet here she is, sitting inside a Time-Travelling Mini-Van, which doesn't even have a driver. Don't get her wrong, she isn't disappointed. Elida loves the 80's with a burning _passion_. It was the time of the greatest television shows, the pinnacle of music, and they had a _great_ sense of fashion. If she could've chosen any time period to live in, it would most certainly be the 1980's. All the way.

But something just feels... _off_.

When she first heard of a magical carnival in the 1980's she laughed at Alistair's stupidity. Of course, she did. She'll buy that he wants her to come with him to a carnival for a fun night out, But _Alistair Green_ of all people to suddenly stumble across a scientific phenomenon? Yeah, right. So she shrugged it off at first, probably thinking that he was just trying to set up the "Aesthetic" and gave her some free clothes. What terrified her was the fact that he knew all of her sizes.

But, Now she's in a car, heading to a magical carnival. Of course, anybody normal would feel as giddy as a child on Christmas. But, since she's one of those people who overthink things, it's all too much for her to process. She _thinks_ she's gotten herself around the situation, but it's the uncertainty in the world _think_ that throws her off completely. She _certainly_ wasn't expecting a full-on night out in the 80s. But here she is, about to time travel, because why not?

She turns to Alistair, with a sly grin plastered on his face. "What do you guys think?"

As an expected response, everybody cheers for Alistair. He must've spent a bloody _fortune_ on getting all of this together. A round of applause and multiple cheers erupt from the center of the Mini-Van, as Helena throws some flirty kisses at Alistair. Several people shout Alistair's name in aspiration, several people whooping and throwing their fists into the air.

"Well, The Party's just getting started!" Alistair said, making the Mini-Van erupt with even more cheers. There were so many voices and sounds coming from the crowd that Elidia's ears felt as if they were going to explode. "Who wants some drinks?!" He asked, throwing his hands up in the air. Of course, Maria was the most ecstatic out of anyone in the room, as the Stereotypical Party girl, making drinks was her thing.

"Fuck it!" Elidia said, walking toward the bar. Maria immediately scrambled behind the bar, looking for as many drinks as she could. She looked like a kid in a candy store. You know, if the child was a 20-Year-Old woman who needed some booze in her system.

To be Honest, Elidia couldn't blame her. The vast array of alcohol presented before her was such a beautiful display that it could bring even the soberest of people to tears. Of course, all of the alcohol was made before the 80's, which was somewhat disappointing for the more... _modern_ alcoholics. And as she scanned Maria searching the bar, she found a little not poking out from the tip of one of the bottles.

"Hey Mar, What's that?" Elidia pointed to the little crevice in which the note was held. Maria looked at her finger, and then to where she was pointing, and use her finely done nails to wrestle the little note from the top of the bottle, managing to rip off a bit of the corner in the process. But it was a corner without any probably useful writing on it, so it was at least tinily acceptable.

" _Be warned. For not everything is what it seems._ " Maria recited, leaning on the back of the alcohol stand in confusion. Of course, both of them didn't know _exactly_ what the word meant in the first place, but Elidia had an itching feeling that it had to do something with the Bad juju she felt earlier.

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

Wherever the Mini-Van is leading them to, Helena's _still_ somewhat pissed that they haven't gotten to their destination. She's actually beginning to get a little bit antsy. Actually, a little bit is an understatement. She feels like she's about to explode with apprehension. Helena's excited, if not a bit frightened at where they're going. To be honest, she doesn't know _anything_ about the 80's. She was born in the 90's even though it was _really_ close. What's it like? How are you supposed to act? And should she have studied a bit more and maybe gotten a bit more revealing before she came? The only thing that she's heard about the 80's was that it was a really wild time to be alive.

 _It's too damn late now_ , her brain tells herself as she starts searching the counter for something to snack on while she waited. She _really_ hopes that Maria comes back with some alcohol because she certainly needs it right now. 80's or not, she'd be able to drink in _any_ era. She came here to party, goddamn it, and that's what she's gonna do.

"So what are you?" Jasper erupted out of nowhere, scaring Helena half to death.

"I-I'm a Disco Dancer." She stutters, trying to get over the shock.

" _Hot_." Jasper smiled.

 _Oh HELL no_ , her brain responded to Jasper's response. Helena's had her experience with guys, most likely the most experienced person in the whole car. So if she's dated 6 guys in 4 months (Her relationships never last long), she certainly knew that Jasper was flirting with her. Of course, she wasn't about to admit it. That would be stupid. She would have to discreetly let him know that she was in no way interested in 4'9 guys, and likes her men with intelligence _not_ the size of their penis.

So using her powers of telling men that they don't meet up to her expectations, she tries to tell Jasper in a polite way that the "Quest" he was trying to pursue, really wasn't worth it.

"Um...Yeah!" She smiled, her brain snarling at Jason. "Um...Thanks but no Thanks." Helena got straight to the point and abandoned her previous plan completely. She couldn't waste any time trying to let Jasper down gently! She had some food and some alcohol to get to!

"Come on." He said, sliding across the miniature food table and close up to Helena's face. So close that she could smell his strawberry scented breath. _Looks like he didn't get the message_ , her brain scoffed. "I know you want me."

"Yeah right..." She backed away from him, bumping into the nearest chip basket, in which out of the small basket fell not only a bunch of tortilla chips but also a small piece of paper. With Helena's keen sense of eyesight, she noticed the note fall out immediately, forgetting the fact that Jasper had completely ruined her chance at eating something on this trip.

She practically dove for the note, multiple chips stabbing into the pinnacle of her chest. She didn't care however, it wasn't the first time anything had touched her chest. Note, _Anything._ She said that only because she had a couple raccoons claw at her chest while she was camping once. She will never forget the moment when she woke up with so many scratch marks on her chest and a baby raccoon pooping on her.

" _Damn,_ You're fast!" Jasper shouted, Helena clearly noticing the hint of fear in his voice. She didn't pay attention to Jasper's claim. Instead, she just shrugged it off like it was nothing, she was always athletic, if not a bit feminist, and so the fact that a guy called her fast and it wasn't just an attempt to get inside her pants, it was really impressive to her.

"Your Secret Comrade?" She asked, reading the note aloud. She quickly got up and showed the note to Jasper no matter how many times her brain kept on trying to tell her it was a terribly bad idea. "What the hell?" she said in unison with Jasper, clearly confused as to why the note didn't show anything that would help her at all.

 _Well, I can't think of food NOW!_

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Austin felt as if the car was... _swaying_.

At first, it was a small feeling. He was talking to Adam, the norm outside the little car and supposed "adventure" they were going to have. They were just going on and on about crazy things that happened to them when it finally happened. Now, normally when you're in a car, you normally get carsick. But his feeling was the opposite. He felt...Seasick.

"Did you feel that?" Austin asked Adam, standing up in fear.

"Nope." Adam shrugged. "Don't' panic on me." He groaned as Austin rolled his eyes at Adam's response. Austin was _sure_ that something was wrong. He wasn't the Fortune Teller for no reason. He's always had some sort of...intuition. Since he was a child he's always sensed when something was about to happen, or when something was happening. He once predicted an earthquake in his town, and soon enough, it happened the next morning.

"No, Really!" Austin retorted walking toward the front of the car. The only rule that Alistair said was that they couldn't go to the front of the Van. But _screw_ what Alistair had said. He flung open the door to the front of the Van, shoving his way past a black curtain.

 _There wasn't a driver._

 _And they were Driving toward a cliff._

"Holy Shit!" Austin shouted, cowering in full fear.

Alistair suddenly stormed into the Driver's area, ready to lash out at Austin. But, at that moment, Alistair saw what Austin was seeing, they both backed up to the back of the section, pressing their backs against the wall. Austin was ready to let out the largest scream you've ever heard in your entire life, but something stopped him. Not Alistair. Not Adam. But the Van. The van sped faster, making Alistair tumble out of the door. When the door was flung open, Austin's ears were opened to the sounds around him. Everyone was screaming, Helena was covered in chips. But the Icing on the cake...

 _Was when the Van jerked inside, flying off the cliff, and into the water._

* * *

 ** _Author's Note!  
_** Oops! I kinda maybe left you guys on a cliffhanger! Sorry, not Sorry! I thought that if this was going to be a reboot, I was going to go ALL OUT. SO I did, pulling out a Van driving off a cliff and straight into the Ocean! Will they live, will they die? What will happen once they submerge under the depths? And was this the scare the woman in the last chapter had planned? _Most_ will be revealed in the next chapter, All you have to do is wait! Ciao!


	4. Welcome to Caligari Carnival!

**Author's Note!  
** I've seen this happen to lots of other writers and I just want to clear this up before it happens to me. When it comes to Novels, Especially one such as this, I refuse to take any requests for Pairings, Plot Lines and Character Development. I plan most chapters ahead, and if you do decide to ignore me and suggest something anyway, make sure that it's REALLY good before you suggest it to me, because otherwise, I will only make minor changes and tweaks to certain scenes. I do not plan to continue this novel for a second installation, for it is still in an early phase. All of these characters are OCs, which means I'm only working off what personalities they gave me.

Finally, and most likely the most important, this story will be full of "Triggers." I should've said this in the first chapter, but this Fanfiction has a _T Rating_ for a reason. This story includes multiple scenes of violence and most of which result in **M** **ajor Character Death.** There are 16 people in this series, meaning only 3 will survive. Not to mention there will be references to the dark times of history. Such as Swearing, Racism, Homophobia, amongst other topics. I did not create this Fic for the faint-hearted and feel free to PM me about some overviews for chapters, just if you want to avoid those topics.

Yes, this Author's Note may be a bit longer than the previous ones so far, but I felt like this would be an important thing to discuss. With all of that being said, Enjoy the newest chapter in _Escape the Night: The First Act!_

* * *

 _Chapter 3: Welcome to Caligari Carnival!_

* * *

The only thing that Maria saw was darkness.

When she heard everyone screaming, she didn't know what to think. So, in the response of being strangely peer pressured, she screamed as loud as she could. Then, she felt the weightlessness of the Van as she was tossed forward, bumping into the side of the car and hitting her head on a runaway stool. It was fairly painful, but once the Van submerged itself beneath the sea, the glass inside the Van started cracking.

"Shit..." Adam said, looking at the glass cracking behind Maria's head. Maria dared not to move. She stood as still as a statue, trying her best not to let the whole car flood. But, the floodgates opened and then poured the water into the Van.

It was a cold blast to Maria's neck. She felt the pressure of the water push her forward, and that's when she saw her shoulder slightly bleeding. If she could kill the ocean for slightly ripping open her jacket, she totally would. But at that moment, she thought only one thing. _I'm gonna drown._ Her brain repeated over and over. _I'm going to die in front of all of these people I JUST MET!_

Well, most of them anyway.

But, she soon saw an opportunity. She whipped her head and swam through the water, searching for something that might set her free. She looked down at Jasper releasing air bubbles from his mouth, his unconscious body flopping onto the flooded floor. _Serves you right, Bitch._ Her brain snickered as Maria dutifully reprimanded herself.

But when she whipped her head for the 42nd time, she saw Alistair, swimming right next to her. They both took swimming lessons for about 4 years before her parents made her move to Japan. But, now she can kick butt and look hot while doing it. But besides that, he pointed toward the door, in which the glass window had already burst open. Then it clicked.

Maria directed Alistair toward the door, in which with his long beanpole arms stretched outside the door and started jostling at the handle. She watched as Alistair whipped the handle back and forth, but it refused to become loose. So, she did whatever respectful person with a Black Belt would do, and she kicked the door open with her platform boots. A gust of water pushed her and Alistair back. With Alistair being the largest beanpole she's ever seen in her entire life, he quickly grabbed for Jasper and quickly smacked Helena awake. He knew she was in their Swim class as well, so she could at least _try_ to get them out. And once Alistair and she swam to the surface...

She was in front of a town?

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

Christie was huddled in a corner, intensely vomiting. She has terrible seasickness, and if you added the amount of Sea Salt in her lungs, how it stung her insides and the fact that she was submerged underwater and now woke up in a small lake in the middle of the largest forest she's ever seen, you'd probably be doing the same as she was.

"Sup," Ross said, patting her back. Christie took one second out of her vomiting, to accidentally hack some green phlegm in his face. "You don't look like you're doing so hot."

"I'm fine!" She smiled, wiping the vomit residue from her mouth. "Don't mind me! I just survived a terrible accident and woke up in the woods, cold, vomiting, and Lord _knows_ how far away from home." Christie let out a sarcastic combination between a sarcastic snicker and an exasperated groan. It was hard to tell which at the moment.

But at the moment, she decided to stand up and look at the group of people around her. Maria and Alistair were being pestered by Adam, who kept on blabbing about how much of a great swimmer he was and could've saved everybody, if only he was conscious. _Yeah Right_ , her brain groaned. _You sound like even more of a narcissist than you are daily!_ Trust Christie, that's impressive.

Crystal, Shima, and Angel all sat by a fire, telling each other stories while trying to warm up. Christie would've joined them if she was in the mood, but after the vomit session, she felt like she wouldn't be for the rest of the night. Ross was being a gentleman while giving back one of Rice's gloves, which he had managed to find hanging off the top of a nearby tree. Of course, he made a bumbling idiot out of himself by stumbling over certain phrases, but he managed to keep his cool around his crush...For the most part.

Nova, Bear and Austin were off looking for the carnival, persisting that their night of fun "Wouldn't be ruined by Stupid Mother Nature." So, they all went off searching and soon enough, they all came rushing back, Bear being the last one, completely out of breath. Christie actually found that really ironic, considering Bear was one of the most Slender ones in the whole group, especially out of the guys.

"Guys!" Bear wheezed, pointing off into the forest. "Look. Over. There!"

"What is it?" Christie asked, turning to where Bear was pointing, There was nothing there.

"Big. Carnival. In. Forest!" Bear said, before collapsing on a nearby log.

"Follow me!" Noba nodded, making everyone stand up. Nova sprinted off into the woods, practically outrunning everyone by 3 whole miles, maybe even more. It took a while for Christie and Bear to catch up, for them being the sick ones. But once everyone invited to this little night of fun regrouped, Christie saw it.

"Wow..."Completely in Awe, Christie looked on into the carnival.

Right in front of them forms a bridge. There's a little ledge, in which there's a small ravine that goes a couple stories down. If you fell down there, you would most likely break a bone, or worse. But in front of her very eyes, there's now a completely decorated, fully functional bridge that Christie's pretty sure wasn't there before at all. Lightbulbs on the side of the bridge light up colors of Red, Orange, and Yellow, illuminating the bridge like a Thanksgiving Dinner. But the bridge wasn't done forming. No, instead, the bridge forms a giant arch in bold printing "CALIGARI!" on it, including the exclamation point. Christie's fatigue's now been shoved out of the way, looking in awe at the creation.

"Everyone saw that...Right?" Alistair asked, his mouth practically gaping open. All Christie could do was a nod.

 _The Real Question is, Do we Cross the Bridge,_ her mind began, staring at the bridge that had just formed. Sure, it looked critically stable, but when you think that this all came from the 80's and that they allegedly time traveled, she was not sure the bridge would hold all 16 of them, _Or stay here?_ But, her problems were answered as soon as the bridge expanded itself.

And, y'know, a giant clown on 5-foot stilts breaks apart the arch, making the woods and chips fall into the ravine. All of the wood fell into the ravine, Christie not even hearing it drop. That made her sure that it was deeper than she thought. As soon as... _it_ came out, she watched as the clown perched over them, making a large and hearty laugh, With his hands on his hips, he grabbed Alistair by the shirt, and hoisted him over the ravine, holding him in midair. The world goes mute as everyone screams, protesting to not let and to let Alistair go. Basically, _Drop our best friend_ OR _keep him in midair._

"Shit!" Adam shouted, backing onto the nearest tree trunk. He was always likely to use profanities.

"WeLl hOwDy dO pArTnEr!" The clown shouted, making a robotic gymnast move and fling Alistair into the air, successfully catching him before squeezing him inside his fist. "wHy wE hAvEn'T hAd vIsItOrS aT oLd cAlIgArI fOr yEaRs!"

 _Oh no._

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

Alistair's normally not afraid of anything. It's dishonorable to be afraid. But when you see a cross between a human and a robot clown lift you up over a ravine, you should be respectably terrified. The clown's freaky, it has cracks all over its body which makes it look like a giant broken china doll, and it's choking Alistair's insides. Not to mention he's smiling like a serial killer who wants to carve out his insides with a rusty crowbar.

"Hi, Mr. Creepy Clown man!" Alistair choked. "W-We just wanted to visit that's all!" Alistair was sweating like the fattest pig you've ever seen.

"iT's yOuR lUcKy dAy!" shrieks the clown. The clown sounds like it's been brutally tortured in ways that were far beyond Alistair's comprehension. "bEcAuSe tHe cArNiVaL's iN tOwN!"

"Great!" He responds, weakly giving a thumbs up. "But can you put me down? Please?"

"oF cOuRsE!" The clown responded, Throwing Alistair onto the top of the tree. The wind blew past his ears as he let out a blood-curdling scream, knocking into the top of a tree. His back crashed upon the trunk of the tree, and he was pretty sure that from the impact he knocked down a Bird's nest as a couple of squirrels. But, of course, on the way down he hit his head on a branch, collapsing on a fallen, decomposing Tree trunk. Alistair groaned in pain as he rolled over, coughing out some blood.

The clown moved past the group with long strides, walking down into the forest. OF course, none of them bothered to say goodbye out of sheer fear, but they watched as he went off into the forest, pretty much clamping onto trees and such. Alistair just stared at the clown, pissed that the threw him onto a tree, but also somewhat glad that he was leaving them alone.

"Thanks, queen!" chirps Bear.

Alistair's friends lifted him up, Elidia ket on trying to encourage Alistair that everything was going to be fine. But deep down, Alistair knew that it wasn't. So while entering across the dark bridge, Alistair let out pained moans as his friends sat him down on a bench. He reassured his friends that everything was going to be OK. But, deep down, he had a sickening feeling that the worst was just beginning.

* * *

 **Author's Note!  
** I love torturing my OCs! And since this is an ETN fanfic, I get to torture and kill as many people as humanly possible. I'm excited to write what people's first impressions on the carnival will be! Will that creepy clown robot thing ever return? What'll be inside the carnival? WIll Alistair ever stop feeling severe abdominal pain from being almost clenched to death? I said in the last chapter that only a few things... and I'll try to reveal everything else in the next chapter of Escape the night! Leave me reviews for each of the characters, and death predictions! Goodbye Everybody


	5. Ever Wanted to Die in the 80's?

**Author's Note!  
** Let's be straight guys. This is the part of the story that gets really dark. This is an Escape the Night fanfiction after all. If you are squeamish to blood, gore, and very descriptive scenes of death, I advise you to leave this page now and never return. Some of the content in this book is very mature, which is why this novel has a T rating. I repeat, if you are squeamish t blood and gore, get out now. If you're still here. Don't say I didn't warn you.

* * *

 _Chapter 4: Ever Wanted to Die in The 80's?_

* * *

Shima's now exploring a cute little carnival. Well, cute is a major understatement. The carnival itself is monstrous in size. The big broken down sign and the Ferris Wheel intimidates her to the core. There's all sorts of carnival games, several performers, popcorn, cotton candy, a bunch of things she _can't_ have because she's on a strict diet. She's been on that diet for weeks trying to make her legs slim down, so now she looks like a real slender magician. Lanky arms and all. But besides her own body positivity, this place is the happiest place on earth.

"This isn't bad!" Shima proclaims. Shima's first impression of the mansion is nothing but pure decadence. Sure, the introduction to the place was a bit unethical, but since she's always been one to appreciate the fun in life, she feels right at home.

 _This day just got better_. Shima stares at the imposing, yet beautifully handsome male in front of her. His windswept blonde hair with golden tips shone atop his beautiful locks, which went into a deep shave at the bottom. His chiseled facial features made him look like some sort of Adonis. His rippling muscles and 5:00 AM morning shadow paired with his Military outfit made him look _super_ hot. He held a lighter, pressing the top a few times before lighting a cigarette, and taking a long drag. Sure, he puffed some smoke in her face, but it was the thought that he did it in her direction that counted.

"Hey there, Sport." He winked, caressing her with his soothingly flirtatious vocal cords. She could feel Kenneth glaring at him with a combination of suspicion, anger, and disgust all at once.

She lets out a goofy grin. She tries her best not to embarrass herself, but she was far beyond that point now. "Hi. How are you...Hottie?" _Shit!_ She shouted to herself, suddenly realizing that she had just called a random stranger a hottie. Now, he was bound to ignore and then they'll be another man that hates her, and she has to go back into the never-ending cycle of being forever alone.

Instead, he let out a beautiful chuckle. "Name's Gavin. Say...What are you guys doin' here at Caligari? Haven't seen people here in a long time." He seemed almost trying to put her in a trance, seduce her in a way. And she was _All_ for it.

Well, she _was_ here to have a fun night out with Alistair. After all, she hadn't seen him since he went with her to visit her cousins in July. But if she manages to snag _this_ hot of a date in the process, now that would make her night. So she lets out the girliest giggle she can muster, and fiddles with her fingers. "Oh...Nothing. Just...Havin' fun You know?"

But, Maria has to ruin the moment by showing off her stuff. Maria steps beside Shima, showing off her breasts more by taking off her jacket. Of course, Gavin fell into her trap and stared right at them, letting out the sexiest grin Shima's ever seen. Shima's as flat as a board compared to Maria with her _cantaloupes_. "So, Gavvy." She twirls her long hair, compared to Shima's Boylike cut. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I work here." Her Possible Future Boyfriend shrugged, taking another drag on his cigarette. "My Dad owns the place, and My Mom's head of security. But, they're currently in Cambodia so I'm the head of Security and the Carnival itself." _He's Hot AND he has connections?_

 _Mama Like._

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

Rice sat on a bench, watching Ross carefully.

No, she wasn't stalking him. She had just failed so many times at knocking down a Bowling Pin shaped like a clown, that Ross had come to her aid. It was almost like one of those Fairytales, almost as if she was a damsel in distress, and she wanted back her most prized Jewel (Which in this case was a purple unicorn) and her knight in shining armor had gone to retrieve it from the big bad dragon. If the dragon was a grumpy 80-year-old man. But after about 10 minutes of playing, Ross comes back with a half-empty wallet and a bright purple unicorn under his arm.

Rice let out the girliest squeal in the world, jumping up and down with her arms held out for the pony. Ross let out a slight chuckle, handing it to her as she held it in her arms tightly. "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!" She squealed, giving Ross a peck on the cheek. Realizing what she did, that peck made both of them go red.

"No problem." Rice shrugged. "I decided to name her Audrey."

Rice ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach. Of _course,_ Ross still wasn't over Audrey. It had been 4 months since she had broken up with him, and for a short period of time, he was absolutely devastated. He wouldn't come home from work, He wouldn't sleep, He wouldn't eat, and it had started to worry Rice. She thought that someday, he would get head over heels in despair and have some sort of accident. But now, he was his own man, living the best life that he could be living. And Rice was proud.

"Hey, Audrey!" She coos as if she's talking to a baby instead of an inanimate object. She holds the unicorn tightly, squeezing it close toward her chest. She beams at ross, wiping a tear from her eye. "Thanks, Ross."

Besides the butterflies in her stomach, Rice _adores_ this place. She's spent most of her time playing most likely rigged carnival games and getting lots of candy, and now she has a giant stuffed purple unicorn to show it. And as the icing on the cake, she's hanging out with Ross, whom she definitely has a crush on. He's a nice guy, and she wouldn't explore this carnival with anybody else. If _this_ place was the reason why Alistair hadn't talked to them in a while, Rice was silly to worry about his safety.

"Why Hello!" A woman shouts from behind them. Rice jumps, ramming into Ross's chest. A Purple haired woman stands in front of them, almost seeming as if her hair was floating in mid-air. Her mystical clothes drape her outfit, as long sleeves and detailed garments covered her wholly tattooed body. A pentagram is tattooed on her forehead, as a Goat head with stars around it and some Latin words are tattooed on her Right hand. Her scarily serious expression terrifies Rice to the core.

"Who's that?" Ross whispers the question. Rice just lets out a shrug as the woman takes long strides toward them.

"Why I haven't seen such young folk in Caligari for Millenia." She smiles, rubbing her hand against Rice's cheekbones. Rice just freezes in place, not sure if she should rather scream or to move as she pinches her cheeks.

"Bonjour!" She gently places the Woman's hand off her face and does a polite curtsy. She's the Matchmaker! Her strong suit is Social Skills! So, she uses those skills to get a grip on what's going on. "I'm Rice, but you can call me The Matchmaker." She lets out a polite smile.

"My, My!" She smiles, placing her hands on Rice's face once again. "You're Rice Calico. Nineteen years of age. Your father works for the government while your Mother's a surgeon. Due to this, you're often taking care of your 3 younger brothers and one younger sister. In age order, it's Caleb, Christian, Chelsea, and Cayden."

Rice was not expecting _that_ as her greeting.

She doesn't take time to speak to Ross. She mumbles something about "Psychic Energy" which Rice can't comprehend at all. The woman's voice changes into a foreboding whisper. She grasps onto Rice's arm, clenching hard. "Be warned. She's coming..."

"Who's coming?" She whispers back.

"The one who holds secrets..." She whispers back to her.

Rice likes secrets! Only if they don't hurt people. She likes the good kind of secrets, like when someone has a crush on you, or when your favorite celebrity is coming to town and nobody knows. Those secrets are good! There _was_ something off about this carnival when she entered, and it wasn't just the giant robot clown that flew into the woods. But at the look at this woman's face, the person who's coming does not look like someone who's fairly friendly. But then, she hands rice a Joker card.

" _Shiro Rose_..." Ross reads over her shoulder. Rice jumped in fear, she almost forgot that he was there in the first place! " _Stopping Demons since 1762?_ " Ross makes a confused face, as well as Rice. How old _was_ this woman? Rice looked up at where Shiro once stood, wanting to ask the question...

 _But she had disappeared._

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

At this point, Nova's up for _anything_. With all the shit that's happened, she's just as happy to climb on a little Merry Go round with Angel. So they sit down, not bothering to go on a horse and instead go on one of the seats. Their passenger car has a cute little blanket covering the seat. As soon as they settle in, the Merry Go Round plays a jolly little tune.

"This is nice." Angel shrugs, filing her nails. Nova shrugs as a response. It actually _was_ pretty nice, if she was being honest. It went faster and faster the longer they went, and the lights made it look pretty cute. All in All, Nova was pleased with how well they handled their aesthetic. Y'know, if it wasn't for the mouse on the floor.

"Fuck!" She shouts, jumping out of her chair and climbing on the top. Angel does the same. Nevermind whatever she said about being happy at this place's aesthetic. IF this place had _rats_ then that was a deal breaker.

And it turns out, the place _did_ have rats. A bunch of rats flocked toward the Merry Go round, surrounding their little station as the Jolly tune soon turned into a distorted nightmare song. Nova screamed, the only thing her mind enabled her to do. Without hesitation, she jumped off the merry go round, running for her friends. She turned back to see Angel running behind, only for a number of mice to hoist her off her feet and drag her into the ground. Nova wants to get off her feet and warn the others before it's too late, but it seems like she's already missed the due date.

"Angel!" She shouts, but she doesn't stop running. Her adrenaline is on an all-time _high_ right now. The lump of dread in the pit of her stomach grows bigger with every step she takes away. She turns forward, seeing Alistair hopelessly being dragged into the ground, and she can't help but wince. He tries to grab for her heel, but she keeps him off, in fear of him drowning them both.

 _Nope_ , thinks Nova, and she runs.

But it's to no avail. The mice pick her up, as the pit in her stomach lifts as well. Her body feels hollow, empty, almost as if the mice lifting her off the ground was a relief. This proves to be a mistake, as she watches the hole open up in front of her. She screams, trying to run from the mice as a large pile of mice turn into a giant rat, pushing her back onto the tiny rats carrying her. _Fuck!_ Her brain shouts as she nears the hole even closer.

"Get in here!" cackles the giant wave of rats, pulling her into the hole. It's faster than she expected. "Join your friend!" The wave of rats laughs in her face, then leaves her as she falls deeper down. She wants to punch it...Or them...Or Him? She was unsure of the personal pronouns.

All she knows is that she's as good as dead.

* * *

 **Author's Note!  
** If you somehow didn't notice the fact that I paid tribute to the new Disney movie " _The Nutcracker and the Four Realms_ ", I was referencing to the Rat king and the rat scene where they dragged most of the soldiers underground. Now of course, since this isn't Disney, the scene is obviously going to be different in the next chapter. But now, you've met 2 people! A creepy woman and a hot guy! The dynamic duo! Now that we have 3 people trapped in God _knows_ where, what question do you have? See you guys in the next chapter!


	6. The GKC Chronicles

**Author's Note!  
** Welcome back, everybody! I've been getting fairly good feedback, and at least I'm still continuing the story! Sometimes, I look at the word count and I tell myself, this bo, ok is going to be really _long_. But that's ok! Because you guys are worth it! Nevertheless, I am very sorry at the fact that I've been procrastinating, because that's a thing! But everything is going to be just fine! So sit and enjoy a new chapter in _Escape the Night, The First Act!_

* * *

 _Chapter 5: The G.K.C Chronicles_

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Alistair is shrouded in complete darkness. Alistair takes a jagged breath, struggling to overcome the pain of falling down a hole, and tries to recollect his memory. All he remembers is that he was having some fun when he saw a bunch of rats. Of course, he ran away, but then he saw the rats attacking the merry go round, and then they started dragging his friends. underground...

 _His Friends!_

His eyes adjust to the darkness and where they are. Nova and Angel are trapped underground, all handcuffed. It looks like some sort of giant _lair._ The smooth handcuffs feel icy around Alistair's wrists. He's tempted to break free and burst out the door, but then he remembers that the rats drew them underground. They absolutely _cannot_ stay here. If they do, they're as good as dead, if the rats don't kill them first. They absolutely _have_ to escape somehow, through any means necessary. If he wants his friends to survive, they have to get out. It's as if someone ran him over with Thomas the Train, set his body on fire, and brutally murdered all of his friends one by one, just to prove a point.

"Check your locks." He said. No point in worrying about their safety. If they don't get out, they won't be safe for long. "Check for a lock or a combination of some kind."

Alistair watches as Nova looks down at her lock. "I have a lock." Angel nods as well and Alistair sighs. Alistair then proceeds to look down at his own look, just for good measure. But then, he noticed what the lock was.

"Dammit!" He Stomped his foot on the ground. "It's a Pentumbler's Lock!"

"Pentumbler's?" Angel asked.

"It's a lock that can only be opened with one type of key. Not even a hairpin can get the damn thing open." Alistair responded, letting out an Angered sigh. Now they had to find a key, or else they couldn't get out.

The cave was fairly small, full of junk that had been scrapped from old carnival rides. On the roof, Alistair noticed a note, pointing toward a nearby table. Alistair attempted to hop to the table but gave up. He strains himself greatly, but only for a mite, and eventually, he manages to kick the hammer to the floor. Of course, he may or may not have damaged the table in the process, but that was alright. _Success!_ His brain shouted to itself in achievement. And thank _God_ there was a note on the hammer.

"What is it?" Nova and Angel ask in unison.

" _The Key is in the Fridge._ " Alistair recites, looking around the cave. Fridge? He looked around the cave for a refrigerator of some sort, only to find absolutely nothing in the damp cave. All he feels a spiking pain in his back as he looks at Angel and Nova's backs. He didn't believe what he was seeing, but the clearly saw something, And that "Something" was tubes coming out of their backs, filled with blood.

"Guys..." He shudders.

"What?" Angel frantically looked around. "Did my hair end up messy? Do I have something on my face?"

"No..." Alistair stifles a scream. "But...There is something...on your back."

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So Angel looks at her back and sees a white tube of her damn _blood_ coming out of her back. Reasonably, she's pissed. Have those dirty rats or whoever stuck that tube in her back been feeding off her like she's a freakin' buffet? Oh, she is going to have some words with them once she gets out of here, and it is _damn_ not going to be a friendly talk.

"Ok. You have the hammer, now what are you going to do now?" She complains.

"Hit the Lever!" He shouts, looking frantically around the room. He pointed his handcuffed hands to a lever right by Angel's head.

"What?" She looks around. "This lever?" She shrugs in response, taking a few jumps to clamp her teeth on the lever, breaking the thing in two. Apparently, that was all it had to take the unhook the tubes from their bodies, which was almost as if someone just detached a knife from your back. As if to ease her pain, the ceiling had decided to drop a little bronze key for Christmas. Of course, the key didn't fall on the floor, but instead, it hung from a little string, just out of reach from the group.

"This is going to get me _so_ pissed," Nova complained.

"There's a note hanging off it!" Alistair shouted.

" _Aim_." She recited. "Wait! Gimme the gun!" All of the cogs in her brain clicked in the right way, and then she had a plan. It may have been crazy but it just might have worked.

"Ok." Alistair shrugged as he kicked the hammer over to her. She yet again grabbed something dirty in her mouth, which she was certainly not happy about that. However, it wasn't like she had a choice. So she begrudgingly sticks the hammer into her mouth and flings the hammer at the key. And thank the good God in heaven, the hammer's end got snagged on the rope, bringing the key down with it the Hammer and the key landing smack dab on Alistair's face.

"Shit!" Alistair shouted, hunching over. Her brain immediately responded with _Damn, That's gotta hurt!_ But, surprisingly, he got up and kicked the key toward his face, using his face to unlock it. The handcuffs came off in a snap, Alistair collapsing with relief. He pulls his hands out of his handcuffs, and he's free at last from the cold confinements around his wrists.

"Hey, Smart Guy!" Nova shouted. "We're still cuffed over here!" Angel had to stifle a snicker.

Alistair rolled his eyes at Nova, but let out a distinguished chuckle. He's practically on the verge of crying with relief, so he ignored her remark for a small bit of time. He took his time to get up off of his ass and take a few minor stretches. After all, he did look like he was the one that had been fed on the most. So he took a few stretches, before grabbing the key and walking over to Nova's cuffs. Only, there was one problem...

 _The Cuffs Didn't come off._

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"What!" Nova shouts in anger. "Why didn't they come off?" Of course, she didn't expect anybody to answer. It wasn't like anybody even knew. She just wanted to speak her mind and blow off some steam. "They Should've come off!"

"Not all Pentumbler's use the same damn key, Idiot!" Alistair retorted. "Each of our cuffs must have a different key."

 _Well, that's helpful_ , her inner voice sneered in the back of her head as Alistair looked around. Her physical body sighed in annoyance. Now they had to find three keys instead of one. Of course, everything had to be so difficult. If she stayed in this place any longer, she felt like she was going to blow her lid. So as Alistair looked around, she made reference to the note from earlier.

"Hey, what was the other note?" She asked as Alistair turned toward her. "Find the Key in the fridge?"

"Of course!" Alistair perked up, grabbing the hammer. He tapped his chin as he smacked the Hammer on the wall, carefully listening for something that Nova didn't know. She really thought that Alistair had lost it at this point.

"Are you mental?" Angel complained. "What the _Hell_ are you doing?"

And then, a metallic ring came from the wall.

 _Holy Shit_ , her brain thought as Alistair started banging the hammer on the wall. He looked like a ravaging madman, smashing it on the wall over and over until he fleshed the wall of the cave into a nice, sturdy handle. The, he started using the end of the hammer and jabbing it into the wall, cutting out the exact measurements of a Mini-fridge. And soon enough, he was able to fling it open and find a fridge!

With a combination lock.

"DAMMIT!" Alistair shouted, collapsing onto the wall. "Why won't this suffering end?"

"Why the hell does it even have a lock in the first place?" Nova complained.

"You think that _you're_ suffering?!" Angel angrily barked. "Nova and I are handcuffed, and just had tubes of blood coming out of our backs!" No matter how hard Nova didn't want to admit it, Angel was oddly right. Alistair was acting like a whiny bitch.

"A note!" Alistair shrieked, jamming his long fingers (Nova wondered why he wasn't a pianist) between the cracks of the safe, wrestling out a note.

"What does it say?" Angel wanted to know.

" _To crack the key to the fridge, you must correlate the words to the numbers. Life, Smoke, Lust._ " Alistair recited.

 _Well, I have no absolute clue what that means,_ Her mind grumbles to herself. She kind of wishes that she was more of a help in this situation. It was sort of a ritual just to talk to herself by now. _I really should've gone back to college...Too late now, I'm going to let my friends handle this one. Maybe they can get me a soda in the process. I could use one._

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Alistair _thinks_ he knows what's going on, but he's truly unsure. So now, since his brain can't even begin to comprehend some of the words, he decides to begin with the easiest one. So, when thinking about smoke, his mind immediately clicks to cigarette butts. Don't ask why his mind clicked to that first. It was practically unexplainable to him.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine" Alistair counts, pointing his fingers to corners of the cave. For a cave, it was somewhat homey. Sure, the stalactites hanging from the ceiling that could fall down and break at any moment didn't help, but there was surprisingly a few objects of comfort that made it feel like someone was actually living there. "There are seven cigarettes."

"Why Cigarettes?" Angel stupidly asked.

"It's the 80's," Nova responded. "Everyone was smoking. It was practically stapled in this time."

Angel nodded.

"Ok, So we have smoke down," Alistair says. Since the first code rescued him, Alistair can only assume that the second one is going to set Nova or Angel free. To be honest, he hopes it's Nova. No offense to Angel, but she's kinda dumb. "Let's try life."

"Wasn't Life magazine canceled around the 80's?" Angel said as Alistair turned to her.

"Yeah..." Alistair questioningly responded. "It was!" Alistair turned away and looked for a magazine. He still couldn't believe that she wasn't some Karen Smith, but he's always open to surprises. So, he started picking around the cave for some sort of magazine, and within the wooden rubble of his table predicament, he found a magazine, covered in soot.

Wiping a large amount of soot off of the magazine cover, Alistair carefully inspected it. He got a bad case of Nostalgia after the large heading on the cover read " **BOB MARLEY DIES AT 36!"** _Rest the dead, you died too soon._ Alistair muttered a quick prayer and a heartfelt goodbye to the young musician. He would've taken longer and probably stuffed it in his pockets, but he was about to die soon. So, he inspected the cover further, finding an 11 on the bottom corner, listing how many children had committed suicide. _Damn,_ he thought to himself, _the 80's was not a fun time._

"17!" Alistair shouted, raising the magazine. Angel tried making a clap behind her back, but she failed tremendously.

"So 9 was correlated to the cigarettes, 11 was correlated to the magazine, now we just need to figure out Lust!" Nova mentally noted down. She always scrunched her nose when she was thinking.

 _God, I was dreading this,_ Alistair sighed.

Alistair searched around the room, looking under the rubble of the table and other areas that he had not mentally noted before. Alistair's mind had wandered to the final clue, searching for Lust, But finally, he looked at the ceiling to see bloody panties hanging off one of the stalactites. He blushes to the fact. He's helped his sisters with their...flowering states before, so he knew exactly what the defilement of those panties meant. He could _totally_ make a dirty joke right now, but they're still in a life-threatening situation, so he advises himself against it.

"Someone had some fun down here..." Nova chuckled as she looked at the ceiling. Alistair's face only grew redder.

"Ugh. It smells so musty in here." Angel comments, not at all saying something related to the conversation. She briefly decides to break into a major coughing fit before regaining her composure. But, being Angel, she clearly overdid it. "Can you hurry up? I think the 80's vibe is getting a bit too apparent."

"Can you be useful for once and give me a hammer?" Alistair rolled his eyes. Angel begrudgingly shoved the hammer over to him.

Alistair let out an apprehensive sigh as he clenched the hammer within his fingers. He looked down at his reflection, not knowing how much he had sweat during the whole ordeal. _That doesn't matter_ Alistair said to himself, _what matters is that you make it out of this damn thing alive._ Alistair nodded in submission, looking at the stalactite. He quickly kicked a broken board of wood over to him, and stood on it, even if he was getting only a few inches higher. SO soon, he muted all of the other sounds of his friends encouraging him, as he smashed the hammer into the stalactite.

 **CRASH!**

Alistair opens his eyes, not knowing when he closed them. What he opens his eyes up to is a large heap of rubble, upon the top of it all with a pair of my little pony themed panties. Clearly, whoever had worn them was a child. _Holy shit_ , he shuddered. He didn't know what was more terrifying. The fact that there could've been children down here, or the fact that he had just bludgeoned a stalactite with a hammer. Both are things he never wanted to or didn't even _think_ that he was going to ever think or do in his life.

A rumble came from the roof of the cave as a bit more stalactites fell, as he looked down at the panties. The number 3 was emblazoned into the panties, quickly running as some rock nearly took out his right arm. He looked at the fridge, walking faster than usual to it. The crumbling had stopped when he had entered the code into the fridge's code-pad. And Thank G _od,_ that there was a key inside there. He hurriedly ran to Nova and Angel, as the two bickered between which two would have the key tested on first.

"Me!" Angel shouted. "My wrists are killing me!"

"Alistair choose me." Nova sternly reprimanded.

"Shut up!" He burst. "I'm gonna do Angel first." Alistair attempted to calm the two down, only having Nova shoot an awfully dirty look at Angel as she let out a prideful smile. Of course, not before acting like a child and sticking her tongue out. Alistair kneeled on the ground, getting his pants also covered in soot, and stuck the key into Angel's cuffs, them relaxing off her wrists.

"Yay!" She clapped.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's great!" Alistair sarcastically remarked before having his voice go painfully deeper. "Listen, I really hate breaking up this victory, but I'm pretty sure everyone felt that this cave is going to break down any moment so..." Alistair was happy that she had managed to get out, but they still had one more companion to worry about.

And from the looks of it, they didn't have long.

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Everyone's out of their handcuffs except for Nova, but Angel could really care less. She had just been set free! The cold handcuffs around her wrists almost felt as if they were trying to clench her wrists so badly that her hands popped off and she died of blood loss. Which due to the circumstances of the events so far, she wouldn't be surprised if that were the handcuff's intention. Feeling the weight of the cuffs fly off her wrist was the best feeling in the world, and a part of her wants to leave Nova behind to rot.

"There has to be something else!" Alistair complains.

"Was there a note with the key?" Nova asked.

"No!" He shouts back, scaring the Jesus out of Angel.

"Maybe that'll help?" Angel asks, turning over to a little stool in the corner. She had been examining its features while she was held in captivity, but the main feature she noticed was the journal on the top, with dyed cow leather with a brass binding that was painted to look like gold. You learn a few things when your dad works at jewelry and clothing store. so, she grabbed the journal and started randomly flipping through it, finding something...not pleasant.

" _When the sun rises, all hell will break loose. The_ _Condorers will not have enough power to stop me. They will have to give into me, trading their souls for their self-preservation. The corrupted artifacts have given the power I needed to turn the Codorers into vessels worthy of being consumed by the Malverack, and bring this carnival burning down with the rest of this hellhole of a world. That's what I love about Humans, They're so easily...Breakable._ " Alistair recited, looking as if he was about to gag.

 _Oh HELL No!_ Angel's inner voice shouted angrily to the journal. _I am not about to get myself murdered and turned into a late night snack for some unholy follower of Satan. Not Today...Satan!_

"Okay, so if we can collect all the artifacts, maybe we can stop whatever...this is from happening." Nova tries to lighten the mood, even though she's handcuffed on the floor.

"I don't really care," Angel threw her hands in the air. "Let's get the F out of here before...y'know." She can't imagine a world without her fellow captor. She wouldn't have been able to free herself if it was just her stuck here, and something tells her that whatever was keeping them captive isn't interested in hearing her fashion advice.

"There's some more stuff in the journal,' Alistair says, flipping a couple of pages. "It says that if we say this the cage will be opened?"

"Virstum Sempri Allium?" Angel said, taking the notebook. Suddenly, the cave wall erupted from behind them, as she whipped her head to the loud noise. She jumped in fear as she turned to the lifting cave wall.

"YOU SAID IT! YOU ACTUALLY SAID IT!" Alistair shouted, facepalming. "HAVE YOU _NEVER_ SEEN A HORROR MOVIE?!"

From behind, a large metal cage was revealed, as the cage lifted up with the wall of the cave. A large sleeping lion was revealed, with a key under its paw and a large door behind it. A note has been attached the part of the cave that wasn't lifted up, saying " _Use the key to open the door or save your friend. Of course... if you can get past the lion..._ "

"You better save me!" Nova angrily shouted. "My _blood_?"

"How do we get the lion out?" Alistair asked. "I know a lot of things about animals, and if you even _touch_ the lion, you'll get your face clawed off."

Angel shout a mischevious look at Nova. "Hey...Nova?" She made her best innocent voice as possible.

"What?" She complained.

"Can we use your blood to lure the lion out?" Angel said rather quickly, getting a disgusted look from Nova.

"The _actual_ fuck?" Nova asked, clearly disgusted.

"Only a bit," Alistar said, still holding the hammer in his hands. "Trust me, it's not like we're going to drink it or anything!"

"I know _that._ But, I'm not so sure that the lion is a veg-" Nova tried to fight back, but Angel was done with her constant bitchiness. If they were to get out of there, they had to at least do _something._ So, she stuck the tube back into her back and pressed a nearby button. OF course, Nova looked extremely pissed, but Alistair kept his hand over her mouth to make sure she didn't scream.

Actually, know that she thinks about it, the situation sounds like a serial kidnapping.

"Thanks!" Alistair smiled, taking out the tube and inserting her blood into a nearby perfume bottle. He then placed it on the table and grabbed a knife. "I saw this earlier..." He twiddled the knife in his hands. "It told me that we had to take Nova's blood and stab the lion." He took long strides toward her, scaring her to the core. She didn't know what he meant by it _told_ him to do it, but she was terrified by what he asked of her next.

 _"You interested in murder?"_

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So Alistair just stabbed a lion while dripping some of her blood into his mouth, and Nova is thoroughly terrified. The lion woke up with a jolt of fear, looking up as Alistair hopelessly massacred the lion. It looked _afraid!_ It was almost as if someone had just...stabbed it in the back. But in a few moments, the lion just fell limp, as Alistair wiped some of its blood on the wall.

Nova's mouth hung open as he stabbed the key into her cuffs, releasing them. "You did it!" she says through nervous giggles, unable to take her eyes off of the lion corpse in front of her. Alistair, the same Alistair who refused to kill a _spider_ , had just gone Buffy the Lion Slayer on a poor animal. "Honey, we need to get you a makeup wipe."

"Well, I'm more concerned that you used the final Key!" Angel turned to Alistair. _Oh, Yeah._ She completely forgot that part.

"Fuck it," Alistair said, kicking the door open with his shoes. He kicked it a few times before creating a hole big enough to crawl through. He starts to walk through the hole, before poking his head back through the opening, scaring the living _Jesus_ out of her. "Cmon guys! You coming?"

"Wait." Her friends race through her mind, and for once she actually feels worried about someone other than herself. "What about everyone else?"

Alistair seems to agree, and so does Angel. "Let's try and find them first."

For once, she actually agrees with Alistair's decisions.

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 **Author's Note!  
** This chapter was MUCH longer than I expected. But it also took MUCH longer to make than expected. I want to take a little moment to remember PAramount Ranch, for that was the place where Season 3 of _Escape the Night_ was filmed, in a little town called Everlock. Sorry, but I'm not gonna lie. All I did was procrastinate because I was extremely lazy when it came. Don't worry, we're going to have a lot more apocalyptic-ness for the other guests in the next chapter! I hope to see you all reading again, in the next chapter of this Novel! Ciao!


	7. The Things you Find, Part I

**Author's Note!  
** Welcome everybody to a new chapter in this novel. I still keep thinking that this story is going to fade out quickly, but I've recently gotten 64 viewers these few months, I've found another survivor of the ETN Fandom, and I'm extremely happy! I didn't think that the story would become this popular, but I assume that I was wrong! But anyway, with all of these people that really love my story, I've decided to put extra work into this chapter! Anyways, enjoy the newest and probably one of the most detailed chapters by far in _Escape the Night: The First Act!_

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Chapter 6: The Things you Find, Part I

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Things have gone from "I'm Having fun!" to "Ok, this is fine!" to "Oh Shit, things are not fine!" in a matter of seconds. Not only were 3 of Bear's friends literally dragged underground, but he's also gathered inside some small unconfirmed building with a bunch of people he's _just_ met. Not to mention, there are some crazy rats running around the whole carnival. The whole situation makes him want to scream bloody murder.

"What the hell is going on?" Ross demands to know.

"I'll tell you what's going on!" Adam angrily shouts. Adam looks as if he's about to sock somebody in the throat. "Alistair has lured us here to die! That's what!"

Bear's starting to try and comprehend his life right now. On one hand, his friends and other cohorts should probably gather up and burst the hell out of this town, because of _Rats_. On the other hand, if they did escape, they would leave Alistair and their friends to either die or suffer a fate much worse. And, since he actually likes them he _cannot_ leave them to being eaten by rats or something. No matter how much they piss him off.

"We should just leave already. Why don't we just call the police or something?" Shima innocently asked.

"Sure, we can just call the police and say 'Hello! Yes, My friends and I have all been trapped in a whack ass carnival, infested with rodents that have just kidnapped three _grown adults_! You'll be here in 5? Ok!' They're never gonna believe us, Shima." No matter how much Bear hated to admit it, Elidia was painfully right. They couldn't just casually call the police.

Bear doesn't have much time to think further before this crazy Fortune Teller lady grabs all of their attention. "If you want to save your friends," she tells them, "we have to take down the rat queen."

"Who's the rat queen?" Maria asks, finally paying some sort of attention to the conversation.

"She's the leader of the rats infesting the carnival. She once was a carnival worker, and she was the daughter of the owner." Shiro started to explain their situation, which Bear felt would take forever. "She was extremely respected and when her father went out of business, she made an attempt to bring everyone back. Concocting something, she ended up turning herself into a deformed woman, in which she blamed her father for." Bear though she was finished, she left them off with a _terrifying_ note. "She then slit her father's throat and the rest of the workers."

 _So now they're rat exterminators_. Bear merely shrugs. He can deal with that, he's killed and seen worse things than some basic rats. Just as long as she doesn't have to actually kill anyone, he doesn't give a shit about what else she has to do. There are people that could very well be alive and suffering, so he has to be quick about this whole murder plot.

 _Unless their dead already,_ The darker part of Bear says.

 _Shut up Me!_ The lighter part of Bear responds.

"Why would you kill an innocent woman?" Rice asks, still not comprehending the situation.

" _Innocent?_ " Christie asked, finally losing her composure. "She slit her own Father's throat! How is that even _remotely_ innocent?" Christie had a valid point. Bear sometimes worried about how much of child she was going to act.

No matter how ridiculous Rice may have sounded, she still decides to answer her dumb question. "There are other people who have suffered because of that Crazy bitch." She blatantly said, "I'm doing this for them."

All bear does is wrinkle his nose. His head still spins from all of the mayhem, and if he didn't run away from those rats he probably would've been next with Alistair. One thing he knows is that something just doesn't add up. Who the hell _is_ she? Why is she being so nice to them all of a sudden, especially if she doesn't even know them in the first place?

"Now," Shiro began, walking through the arcade, just searching for something...Bear didn't even know what she was looking for. "What makes rats lured or what kills rats in the first place?"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Crystal raised her hand like she was back in second grade. "Rats are lured with cheese and you kill them with pesticide!"

"So..." Elidia began, tapping her chin. "All we have to do is make our own poison and put it in some cheese? Isn't she like a half human or something? Why don't we just lure her with a pizza?"

 _Thanks, Elidia, for making me hungry._

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Elidia may be the Photographer, but her first rule is always "don't trust anyone." That includes this dyed hair lady and Mr. Shaved Jared Leto. Yeah, they both seem ready to whoop some rat butt right now, but what if it's an act? What if they're planning to sacrifice them to the rats as a part of some evil Satanic ritual or something? What if they're just gonna start stabbing them?

So as Shiro starts pacing around the room, Elidia stares at her with a vengeful glare. She shouldn't be this suspicious of her, but for some reason she just... _is_. She just doesn't trust her, or even wants to in the first place. She can't help but worry that she'll end up betraying them later. And yet...they have absolutely no choice. Sure, there's adventure, hot people of both genders, all that jazz, but the parties she goes to never involve rats after their blood. She just doesn't feel comfortable.

"Can't we just Stab her?" Elidia asked, finally interrupting Shiro's constant rambling. "I mean, if she _is_ Half human like you said, we could just kill her instead of going through all of this trouble."

"It doesn't work like that." Shiro sighed.

"But Why _Not_?!" Elidia said, finally getting pissed. She can hardly give a shit if her friends are gonna get a bit antsy about her confrontation, but she needs answers. And she needs them right _damn_ now. She will not wait any longer while everyone sits around and scream their heads off while people could be alive and _suffering_. She just doesn't have the energy for that shit anymore.

"Calm down!" Ross responds, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"This is my kind of party..." Kenneth Mutters.

"Good Lord, Ross..." Bear sighed, already knowing of what was to come from Elidia. "Don't you know that you _never_ tell a woman to calm down?" He explained, facepalming in annoyance. Clearly, Bear was well versed in the world of females.

Elidia held out her hands as if she was about to choke out Ross. Elidia really wanted to sock Ross in his Prettyboy face right then and there. She wanted to roast him so hard that he could be put on a platter and served at a five-star restaurant, and leave absolutely no remorse. But instead, she decided that it would probably hurt her reputation if she did. So instead, she sunk back into the retreats of the couch, crossing her arms and scrunching her nose. She scans around the room, looking at all the selfish husks she was getting along with just a few minutes ago. It's funny. Sometimes, what you see is what you get. And then there are moments like these, where you feel as if the whole world has rejected you.

"The lion retreats back into the cave." Jason smiled, still holding on to that unlit cigarette.

Then Rice fearfully stands up, nervously playing with her hair and fiddling with her lace gloves. "If we want to get out of this, we need to work together," says Rice quickly & quietly. She retreats back into her seat, as Ross places his hand around her shoulder, actually able to touch a girl without flinching or threatening to punch him in the face.

Of course, Elidia deeply appreciates Rice's weak attempt to bring the group together, she really does! But, It's far too late by now. Three people might be dead, and Elidia's admittedly caused far too much damage that becomes fixable. A few moments ago, she thought that everyone, well mostly everyone in the room, was her friends. But now she realizes, she has few, if any friends. It's her against them. She realizes that now.

 _She can't trust anyone. At least...Not for now._

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Austin decides that it's best to look around. If Elidia was going to act like that, he certainly was not ready for what the rest of the group was going to do. And if he's going, to be honest, this is not his kind of party at all. He was being absolutely sarcastic. Sure, it's nice and aesthetic, There are a _bunch_ of hot chicks, but there's also murder and rats. And just like everybody in the world, he hates rats. So, if this whole carnival is the Rat's hangout, there has to be something that they can use to get out.

While he was hopelessly searching the largest Arcade that he's ever been to, he started looking under some machines and tables, possibly scavenging for clues or something to eat. But, instead of finding some pizza, he found something nestled behind a claw machine. It's a small box with the letters R.O.Y.G.B.V. on each of the sides. Of course, he holds the box in the air and recites "Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet!" at the top of his lungs. Of course, anybody with common decency knows about their colors, whether primary or secondary.

"R.O.Y.G.B.V." Christie chants as if she's in some sort of cult. "R.O.Y.G.B.V."

"We need to open the box." Kenneth Confirms, as Austin can't help but roll his eyes at him. _Thanks for the Clarification, Captain Obvious._ Austin grumbled, returning to his search. Now, he actually had a legitimate objective.

"Found it!" Rice responded, jumping up and down like a little child, high off sugar. Sometimes, she scares Austin to the point of him actually worrying about her. "Over Here! Over here! Over here!" To Austin's surprise, Rice finds that set of letters on a Wild-West-themed pinball machine.

A huge skull was in the middle of the machine, with a mustache and a cowboy hat. Inside the machine, there were multiple colors, each corresponding to the others on the box. Multiple western figures were planted around the building, as well as plastic cows that boarded the "outskirts" machine, daring to trap any ball that attempted to pass through. On one hand, Austin's fairly glad that there's an answer to this miniature puzzle. On the other hand, he's still confused about how this pinball machine relates to the box. "So..." He began, not sure how to finish the question at all.

"How do you turn this on?" Adam decided to finish his question for him.

"I-I don't know," Rice admitted.

With that helpful piece of information, Austin feels defeated. So, as he pretends to be happy as he looks around the room, he decides it would be best to pretend to look rather than to waste all of his energy actually looking. Sure, that would be called laziness, but in their situation, there really isn't anything that you could really call lazy when you think about it.

"Bingo, Bitch!" Bear shouted, throwing his hands into the air. Austin looks over to what he was talking about, and apparently, he was playing a game of bingo on 2 separate Chalk-Boards with Mara. But surprisingly, the message before them had changed. Apparently, with Bear winning their little game while everyone else was suffering to figure out a code, the chalkboard had just given them a cheat to win the machine. So, spelled in big white letters were the words "DOUBLE TWIST, PRESS YELLOW 5 TIMES, PRESS RED 2 TIMES, SWIVEL, TURN, JAB!"

With those words uttered, the machine roared to life.

"Oh Shit!" ross shouted next to him, placing his hand on his chest, right where his heart should've been. Austin couldn't blame him for almost having a heart attack. He just didn't understand why it was at the mercy of a machine.

"Allow me," Helena said, pushing past Adam, Ross, and all of the others (mostly the males) to walk toward the now seemingly alive pinball machine. "I'm not gonna walk out of this arcade a loser, Kay bitch?" Helena grabbed a magenta-colored, diamond-studded hair tie off of her wrist and straightened her hair into an Ariana Grande styled ponytail, whipping her head back and forth a few times.

Suddenly, Helena just got 10 times hotter.

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Most of the people here are people that she never met, so most of them may not know that she is absolutely _obsessed_ when it comes to games. She might not be a video game nerd like some of the others in the room, but when it comes to pinball, she _slays_. She just loves the feeling of winning. Every time when she won over her siblings in Monopoly or Blackjack, she didn't bat an eyelash before she began to rub it in her faces. Even her dad says that her competition comes from her Mother's side. The "Crazy Asian" side of the family.

It's time to show these bitches her skill.

She thrusts the handle on the side, letting out 3-4 pinballs. Then, she starts working her magic. She twists the same handle twice, managing to get the knockers on the side to knock the pinballs toward the front, farest away from the end as possible. Then, while moving some hair out of her face, she Presses the yellow button about 5 times, which causes the machine to shake enough for 2 out of the 4 pinballs to go into the 10,000 points spot and landed herself enough points to get into 3rd place, as gestured by the electronic point counter at the top of the machine, right below the logo and the company/country that made the machine in the first place.

"Slay Bitch! Slay!" Bear shouted, cheering her on.

Helena appreciated them cheering her on, so not only did her adrenaline and produce of sweat increased tenfold, but her confidence boosted as well. Helena is honestly living the whole solving-clue fantasy. At this point, she starts to forget that all of them could be brutally murdered and starts enjoying her life for once. She then pressed the red button two times, managing to put the machine into something called "ADRENALINE MODE" in which about 3 more balls were released from the hole, in which this time they were colored gold. Due to Elidia calmly reading the directions in the back, she knew that the golden balls were outlawed due to how many point boosters they carried and that the machine she was playing was probably the last one left.

Of course, she couldn't hear Elidia that well due to _Stairway to Heaven_ played by Led Zeppelin in the background. but it was alright.

Helena continued to truck through the game, never losing sight of her small objective, even though it was fairly large to the others. Bear incessantly chanted the instructions in the background, which actually helped Helena a lot, even though it was annoying beyond compare. Helena swivels the handle in a circular motion, making the twister in the middle start nocking the other 2 silver balls into their respective holes. It was like a sweeper in one of those Roblox games.

Yes, she still plays Roblox, Don't judge her!

Helena wasn't sure how to interpret the last two steps that were written on the board, so she decides to do 2 things that may have related to the instructions. Not only does she turn her body to tilt the machine, but she also turns _all_ of the controls while doing so, managing to get 2 of the yellow balls into their place, knocking her score up to Second place. Not only did she feel prideful, but that second placemark was only going to drive her closer to her reward. Second place is the first place for losers. At least, that's what her mother had always said. So all she had to do was to knock that _one ball_ to win. So, she jabbed one of the triggers down and ended up knocking the last ball into its place, bumping her score to first place.

Then, the sides on the box clicked open.

For a while, there's a bit of silence. But once Helena turns around, her forehead soaked in sweat from working so hard to defeat the game, the whole room erupted into a chorus of glad shouts, almost like a volcano of happiness and relief. The box is now folded black pieces, that have all been arranged to be nothing but a perfect square. And at the center of it all, there's a little yellow sticky note in the center, written in some terrible penmanship, which Helena still bothers to pick up after her most recent victory.

"The only way you could've opened this box is by..." Helena was happy when she started reading the message, hoping it would be some sort of congratulations letter to her and congratulating her with the reward of the next clue, but she was _very_ wrong. "Cheating." The final word wrang like a wet towel in her heart. She had to admit, she was actually cheating, and she had a deep hatred for cheaters. But now, she didn't know what to say.

"What?" Kenneth asked, starting to get pissed off. "We did that all for _nothing?!_ " He shouted.

"What's gonna happen now?" Shima whispered.

 **THUMP!**

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

 _Shit_ is Adam's first response to the loud crash. Even if it was by cheating, Helena wins the pinball game. But then, they find this mysterious note talking about her cheating, which it could've only known if it was made recently. So while they're trying to figure out what the hell that sentence meant, a large crash and a thump come from outside as the whole room turns from a valley of cheers into nothing but a choir of screams. Now, everybody is legitimately terrified, while Adam is probably the only one thinking on what caused the crash in the first place.

Now, Adam is a major horror movie fan. He's beyond ecstatic whenever Elidia comes over to his place to watch a Horror Movie Marathon. But, while watching those horror films, you learn some things. Like when you hear a large nose from the outside you absolutely do _not_ follow it, at all costs. But of course, he's also the person in the horror film that would most likely do it anyway, just for laughs.

But this time he's not gonna be that guy.

"Do we _have_ to go outside?" Bear asks. He also knows a lot about horror films because he also comes over sometimes as well. "Cuz I'm sure that Adam and Elidia could stand by me on this when I say, Horror films are always right."

But, since for some reason all of them have shit luck tonight, Gavin decides that it is clearly a great idea to go outside. "I think we should check it out." And of course, his mindless followers Maria and Shima decide that he is absolutely correct and that nothing could go wrong in doing this action.

So, he follows. He could've protested and boarded up the doors, but he decides if everyone wants to commit mass suicide, he's absolutely fine with that fact. So, he steps outside of the arcade and cautiously looks around, peeking his head out of the door. he does mutter a few curse words after Gavin shoves him aside and goes head-on into the night. But, when they step outside, strangely nothing seems out of place outside of the arcade. Everything is quiet, serene, and there are no rats! That's a plus! It's almost as if the carnival had been deserted.

"I don't see anything." Christie shrugged.

Then, They see a child's body on top of the arcade.

* * *

 **Author's Note!  
** I just realized how long my chapters are getting! Eh! It's fine, it's all worth it for you guys! Anyway, the next chapter will be a continuation of this chapter, therefore it will be a chapter with the same name. As you see, I took a bit of inspiration from The Clowns Here Kill, and I want to take even more inspiration from Season 3 & 2 than I probably should. Don't worry, i'll become more creative. Anyway, I'll see all of you wonderful readers next time in the next installation! Ciao!


	8. The Things you Find, Part II

**Author's Note!  
** First time I've done the second part to a chapter! I now know that there is no way I'm going to be able to update the story regularly, but that's fine! This is gonna be awfully fun! Well, if you don't remember, a dead body dropped from the roof after Helena cheated in a pinball game. A lot of things are gonna happen in this chapter, so it's gonna be fairly longer than the others, so buckle in for a wild ride! Anyway, with all of that put in a neat and tidy box, welcome to the next chapter in a story called: _Escape the Night, The first Act!_

* * *

Chapter 7: The Things you Find, Part II

* * *

Everyone's screaming their heads off as if someone just...died. Actually, someone did just die...or maybe not. She isn't exactly sure about the date of death. After all, this is the first time she's ever even seen a corpse, especially a somewhat fresh one. She's never been to an actual funeral in her _life_ before. Of course, you probably would when you see a 6-year-old's body dropped from the roof. But, it all happened so fast and...Now that she admits it, this whole body finding fiasco could've been avoided if they all just listened to Adam. _God,_ even thinking those words leaves a terrible taste inside her mouth. She's going to need a lot of holy water to rinse that sinful statement out.

Oh yeah, back to the body.

The corpse n the roof was stinking like crazy. It was like someone had just shoved Lime and an Athlete's sweaty sock into your face. The corpse looked mangled, with multiple scars and bruises upon his face. His short hair was a bit too short for comfort, clearly cut with the same knife the marks had made. The little boy had a set of 2, pale eyes that looked frozen in fear. Oh, and it's lower body was gone. The only thing that was on the roof was the head and torso. Clearly, whoever killed them was very skilled in the art of murder.

"HOLY SHIT!" Helena backed up from the body on the roof, covering her mouth as if she was about to throw up. "I THINK I'M GONNA BE SICK!"

"OH MY GOD!" Shima's the loudest and most obnoxious out of them all, pointing toward the top of the roof like a madwoman. "IT'S A DEAD BODY! IT IS A DEAD BODY!" She stated over and over as if they were all blind for some reason. Christie somewhat regrets saying that she didn't see anything, because now _everybody_ sees the corpse on the roof, which is most certainly _not_ a pleasant time to be alive.

Ross's hands are coving Rice's ears and eyes, making sure that she doesn't hear the commotion going around them Meanwhile, his mouth his hung open as if some jumping fish are going to hop into his mouth and sing Kiss the Girl. "What the Hell _is_ that?"

"Should we take..." Elidia began to say, deciding on what gender it was. " _It_ off the roof?"

"HOW ARE WE GONNA GET UP THERE?!" Oh right, Christie forgot to mention that Jason has also joined the loudmouth squad with Shima, joining her ranks of the loudest shouts out of all of them. "IT'S _ON THE ROOF_!"

Of course, Ross is the one to take things literally. He takes Rice gently by the hand and walks inside, managing to grab some rope. Then, after Rice is holding it at the bottom, Ross uses his upper body strength to climb to the top of the roof, and take all of the disgustingly done plastic wraps off of the child's corpse. However, Releasing the plastic wrap only made the smell it emulated worse. Once he removed the wrap and attached the corpse to its neck like a noose, the screams only got louder. Not only was she not happy to say that it was the first time she ever saw a corpse, but it's also the first time that she's also seen a corpse that up _close_ before. She would've been perfectly happy to live out the rest of her whole damn life without seeing one, but looks like Satan had other plans for her.

"Who the actual _fuck_ would do this?" Elidia asked. "Especially to a damn _kid_."

"I don't know," says Crystal.

Ross brought down the body with a sort of hasty speed. After Rice helped him down, he thanked her for her services and placed the body gently on the ground to the rest of the group. Once they looked down at the body, they noticed more features. First of all, each of the limbs was little nubs, and the neck looked as if it had been snapped to the bone. Also, the nose was completely missing from the body, which Christie would've been glad not to know. But one thing that stuck out, was the large newspaper plastered on their nipple-less chest.

"Bring the body in," Elidia confirmed. "We need to do a check. Like at a Mourge."

"Are you fucking _insane?!_ " Jason asked, looking at her as if she just asked for him to murder someone. "We can't!"

"Stop whining!" Elidia barked back, taking charge. "I'm not gonna ask again!"

Even though a terrible, undefinable smell from the body is being emitted, and she is _this_ close to throwing up all of her internal organs, she still pushes through and takes charge of the situation. So, all of the boys (excluding Jason, Christie was his replacement) picked up the dead body and hoisted it off of the floor, bringing it into the arcade as if they were all bringing a coffin to a funeral home. Jason rudely waves goodbye to the child's dead body as he heads back inside the arcade. Anyway, they all placed the body down on the table, with Rice silently weeping for the dead child, and Helena murmuring a soft prayer for the child, even though she wasn't that religious. She really wants to nestle up on the other side of her give her a hug, but she doesn't, because she's clearly not in the mood.

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Rice thought that the object that fell from the roof was like an oversized shoe or maybe some plastic or some hail, not a _dead body_! Sure, it was kind of Ross to cover her eyes to obstruct her view, but tears were already forming in her eyes. That poor kid! He could've had a whole family, a bunch of friends, and if they had been a few seconds earlier, maybe they could've saved his life. _God!_ What are they gonna tell his parents when they realize their son is DEAD?! She can't comprehend the thought of being the bearer of bad news.

 _At least we have the body_ , Rice She shuddered at the memory of the boy's empty, glassy eyes, looking upon her.

" _The Ohillo Child killer strikes again!_ " Adam started reading the newspaper, not bothering to look upon the body once more. " _The Ohillo Child Killer has struck again, with the murder of James Bentley II. But this time, the police have a lead. From the latest murder, they have performed an autopsy..._ "

"What?" Christie asked. "Why'd you stop?"

All Adam did was turn around the newspaper to the rest of the group, which was terrifying as it is, but when she looked at the bold letters on the newspaper, she blurted them out in the order she thought would fit best. "Perform the autopsy on the body, take heart." Rice had already gone through enough, and she was not ready to take out a child's heart, especially without out its consent. Even though it couldn't even give her any permission, because it was...she doesn't even what to think about it. She _hates_ the thought of it.

"So...We're gonna eat the heart?" Ross asked.

"Where did the passage say _anything_ about eating a child's heart?" Elidia asked, starting to bring logic into the situation. "Actually, if the autopsy was already performed, why do _we_ have to do it again as the sloppy seconds?!"

"Nobody cares about the logic," Austin admitted, backing up from Elidia in fear of her having another outburst as she did with Ross. "I-I'm just saying, the real thing that people care about right now is..." He eyed the poor corpse as if it was some sort of dead creature, and not someone that was once a breathing, walking human being.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Christie grabbed a knife from the table next to the couch and gives the boy a good jab in the chest. Rice jumps back in fear, as Christie then snatches Rice's white gloves out of her hands, and slips them on, ripping the flesh out of the boy's chest with violent rips, the skin dripping with a shade of red that was darker than it supposed to be. The now murderous lunatic that once was Christie starts digging through the corpse, ripping off flesh as fast as she can. And the fact that the body is on the floor, and she's getting blood and guts everywhere just made Rice want to gag.

"Yes, bitch! Tear out those body parts!" Maria cheers Christie on, standing on the couch as if she's watching Christie do body shots. "Wooo!"

"I need a drink," Adam complains, rolling his eyes. He lazily lounged on the couch, unphased by the rippage of body parts, in which Elidia soon decided to join her in the madness.

A few seconds later, Elidia and Christie triumphantly put a beating heart into the air, grinning as if they had just won a prize of some sort. Everyone gasped at the fact that it was still beating, but with them grasping onto it so hard, it looked as if it were about to explode in both of their palms at any moment. Rice held her ears with her bare hands in fear, still looking at her now Blood-Stained gloves.

Then, the door to the Arcade opened.

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Maria's heart almost stops in place. At first, when the front door to the arcade bursts open like a firecracker on the fourth of July, Maria thinks that it's the rat queen that's come to kill them all in a blinded rage, but to her relief, It was just 2 very distressed Nova's and Angel's, and a Blood-soaked Alistair. Maria has honestly never been happier to see Alistair, Nova, and Angel in her entire life, even if she hadn't met 2/3's of them before. She didn't dare to bring up the blood on his once clean suit, but all of the others in the room had very different ideas to hers.

"Oh my god!" Elidia runs up to Alistair, before promptly punching him in the arm. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"It's not like I meant to!" Alistair chuckled, rubbing his shoulder.

"Oh my god! Woah! Okay, bitch! You're fine!" Maria has suddenly burst into a record of nothing but happy sounds, but she doesn't care. Even if she had denied the fact that they would _all_ come back alive, She knew they'd make it out. So now, all they have to do is create some poison, kill a bitch, and get the _hell_ out of this deranged carnival.

"Alistair straight _up_ killed a lion!" Nova shouted as if it was the greatest prize in the world.

Nova's proud proclamation to the rest of the group catches most of the group off guard, but Adam sat unphased. "I can't say I'm surprised." Adam chuckled, walking up to give Alistair a short, yet lovely little hug. Meanwhile, Maria isn't quite sure how to handle the fact that Alistair murdered a living creature, so she just laughs at the statement and shrugs it off as if he had never said it.

The rest of the scene is like it was something out of a Rom-Com. With everyone ignoring the dead body on the floor, everyone started cheering and hugging the survivors of heir recent attack. It was like people coming home from war or something. Rice hugs Angel as she has to wipe away her tears with annoyance, Austin buries his head into Nova's shoulders, even though she's shorter than him, and through muffled cries, he whispered "Oh thank god" into her ears. Angel, Shima, and Crystal practically crush each other by enveloping all of them in an overenthusiastic embrace, practically crushing each other with a giant bear hug, in which they certainly put the bear in a bear hug.

And with a clearly starstruck Kenneth Ambroza, he makes his mission to be sure that Angel is untied from her group of girls, and takes it as his chance to run up to her and hug her with the tightest grip that he could've ever made. He clearly showed that he had no intention of ever letting her go, at least not anytime soon.

"You're back!" He shouts, practically about to let loose the floodgates. "I thought-"

"What did you think?" Angel laughed. Angel and Kenneth were a special duo. Kenneth had a crush on Angel (Either that or he was hiding the fact that he was lowkey gay with his platinum blonde hair) and she clearly had no intention to reciprocate the feelings. "What did you think?"

"Nevermind." He shakes his head, reaching for her hair but pulling it away.

She ships it _so_ hard.

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

Elidia's just as happy as the next that everyone's survived the attack of the rats from earlier because she did have to save their lives and ruin her reputation by lashing out at everybody (It's not her fault she's an Aries!), but she has to say that they have to move on. So now she has to glue her brain back together, and get some common sense back into her brain and move on with the night. After all, they do have a person to murder.

"Is everyone forgetting we have a dead body in the room?" Elidia asked, staring at anyone with the straightest face as possible.

"Oh," Bear sighed, turning his head to the heap of rotting flesh. "Right."

"Oh Yeah!" Alistair smiled, turning to the group. "There's a heart on the table, Rice's bloody gloves are on Christie's hand and that looks like a dead kid..." He sighed, spitting all of that out in one big breath. "Did you murder kill someone?" He asked, suddenly becoming terrified.

"I beat everyone's ass at ping pong." Helena raised her hand, and Elidia could not deny that she actually did beat everyone's ass. She was fairly impressive when playing the game. "Then a body dropped from the roof and those 2 psychos," Helena pointed at Christie and Elidia with an accusing finger, which did throw Elidia's feelings about her off a little bit, but it was ok. "Tore open its guts."

"Fun..." Nova shuddered.

"Anyway, lemme fill you in on all the juicy shit," Bear stood up, pushing past Elidia as if he was getting a spot in the spotlight. "There's a rat lady who's the daughter of the boss, she turned crazy, killed her dad, now she's a mutated rat lady and we have to kill her." The fact that Bear let all of that out in a big breath impressed Elidia.

"And that's the tea." Maria gave Bear a high five.

"So..." Angel rocked herself back and forth. "What do we do now?"

"We do this." Shiro suddenly appeared out of nowhere, scaring the living Jesus Christ out of Elidia. Did she absolutely _have_ to be creepy? She could've just toned it down a little bit. But, back onto the spookiness. So, she walks out with a camera, clicking the on button and showing the static image of a map of the carnival. ON the map, there was the Ferris Wheel, The Carousel, The Arcade, and a new spot called "The Dirty Rat."

"What's _The Dirty Rat_?" Austin asked, staring at the Camera with large eyes.

 _If you ask me, It's the lady who gave us the camera._ "How do you suddenly have this out of nowhere?" Elidia asks. "I mean, you were just among the people who were clamoring all over Nova, Alistair, and Angel before." There was no way in _Hell_ that she was going to let Shiro off that quickly and that easily. Not while Elidia was still breathing.

Actually, thinking about Shiro, she _would_ probably find a way for her die.

But, Shiro instead answers another question from the group. "The Rat's pit is basically a super elite club for all of the fellow Carnival visitors she turned into deformed creatures like her so she could have them feel her pain as well."

"So..." Bear said, wringing his wrists as he spoke. "She was pissed that she was turned into a monster, so she turned everybody else into one too?" he asked, tilting his head. "She's certainly the cool type," He groaned.

"Take this," Gavin said, taking a shining Glock from his pocket. He took the Black Glock from his tan pants pocket and handing it to Maria. You could tell by Maria's body language that she literally shivered, probably at the fact that nobody, including her had probably never shot someone. Mara looked absolutely starstruck at the fact that he gave her the gun, and she practically melted right on the spot, filled with love. She then hardened up, losing that sappy puppy-eyed face and looked like a savage, almost as if he totally hadn't given her a weapon she probably didn't have.

She wasn't sure that Maria was quite ready.

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

Maria's been given a gun before she hit third base, and she's honestly honored that her soon to be boyfriend has trusted her with a lethal weapon. Even if it's the coldest gun she's ever held, and the fact that he didn't smile while giving it to her, she still thought it was a beautiful sentiment. But, if shooting a couple of bitches is what it takes to get deep inside Gavin's pants, she's willing to shed some blood for him.

She watched as Elidia took the camera, placing her own in the trash can next to her. "Shouldn't we get disguises?" She asked.

"Oh, C'mon!" She shouted, throwing the gun around as if it was a simple toy. "I have a weapon!" She smiled. "Of course, I don't plan using it at any time, but If I absolutely have to..." She trailed off, letting out a mischevious smile. Of course, that smile resulted with a bunch of mixed reactions from the rest of the group.

"Actually," Shiro responded, getting a nasty reaction from Elidia. "I have some disguises over here." So, Shiro went back to the closet, in which Maria thought that Shiro would play some twisted joke and let out _another_ dead damn body. But instead, she brought out some cute mouse ears and some nice whiskers without the abnormally large mouse snout. Even though it didn't have the big schnoz, it still wasn't fashionable, at _all_.

Maria picked up some mouse ears and some whiskers and placed them on her head & face, looking at herself from the compact mirror inside her purple leather jacket. It didn't look that bad, but _Dear Lord_ , If the creature human things were really that stupid to fall for these costumes, it would be a breeze to sneak past those creatures.

"So...What exactly are you gonna do while Bear, Alistair, Elidia and I are risking our lives?" She asked, fixing her lopsided whiskers.

"I didn't agree to-" Alistair began, but Gavin cut him off.

"I'll take a few more people to a nearby warehouse to search for a weapon to kill the Rat Queen." He confirmed as Ross voluntarily stood up as if he was contributing himself for the Hunger Games.

"Yeah!" Bear smiled, leaning on Elidia's shoulder. "We're badass bitches! We got this!"

Now she wasn't so sure about _that_ , among other things said. But, she's open to new ideas. So, she holds out her arms and Alistair, Elidia and Bear all join her in a slightly-too-early victorious hug, as they began to walk out the door. So, she turned to Gavin one more time, as he actually managed to crack a heartfelt smile at her. And with that, it was time for the partying...

To begin.

* * *

 **Author's Note!  
** Hey everybody! I'm glad you made it to the end of this chapter! This chapter was actually pretty fun to write! Now, I realize that this "Episode" is actually going to be over soon! So, that means we only have about 3-4 chapters until we actually move on to the carnage! But always, who says that we can't shed blood a little bit earlier than expected? So, I hope to see you all on the next chapter in this wonderful story! And as always, Ciao!


	9. Blame it on the A-A-Alcohol!

**Author's Note!  
** Welcome to the next chapter! Anyway, I've now gotten into the habit of uploading every 2-3 days now, and I think that it would be great for me to continue this schedule! I know that no characters have died yet, but I'm actually starting to get attached to them now, so I think killing them off is going to be more difficult than I had presumed. But of course, this attachment wouldn't have formed if I couldn't have gotten this far! Also, I know nothing about Card Games, so sorry if the game is a bit inacurate. Anyways, thank you for the support and I hope you're happy with the story! Enjoy the newest chapter in _Escape the Night, The First Act!_

* * *

Chapter 8: Blame it on the A-A-Alcohol!

* * *

So Alistair decided to start walking outside the safe haven he knew as the arcade, feeling as if he's Walking straight into hell, with a sign on the back of him screaming _'Hey Demons! Possess me Please! I'm a fresh body wanting some internal suffering!'._ But his prayers are successfully answered after he thankfully sees a large building with the face of a contorted rat with Xs for eyes not so far ahead. It looked as if it was one of those cartoon faces whenever a character died and they had their tongue stuck out, but that tongue was the door that led inside. It Actually looked like your modern day bar if you ignored that the bouncer had Rabbit ears, a large white rabbit tail and a somewhat pointed snout at the tip of his face.

"We're here to party!" Maria said, stuffing the gun into her Jacket pocket. Thankfully, Maria always carried a shot with her wherever she went. So, of course, Alistair was far from surprised when she brought a shot glass from her pocket and started waving it around.

"This is where the party is right?" Bear said, trying to put on his best innocent look.

The bouncer mumbled something under his breath, which did not seem like a good sign to Alistair. He honestly thought he was going to call them out for their costumes and bull lies and possibly kill them. So, the bouncer takes one look at all of them and unhooks the velvet rope to let them inside. Elidia calmly walks in as if she's undercover, while Maria runs in like she's a hyperactive child. Alistair just walks in, scanning his surroundings like he _totally_ wasn't spying on their party.

Funky music is playing at top volume, while multiple creatures are dancing around the room. Behind the bar, there's a guy dressed in a tuxedo and a frog head, when he really just looks like an anthropomorphic bartender. He was currently shining some glasses while a cat girl and a dog boy ironically started flirting with each other. A bunch of different creatures are having the time of their life in the center of the dance floor, all dancing on roller skates while a zebra haired DJ plays _Dancing Queen_ by _ABBA_. Disco balls glimmer from the ceiling while 2 lion and tiger people are doing something not so kid friendly in the corner. It genuinely looks like everybody is having a good time, and Alistair feels the deep urge to join in on the fun. Looking at everyone in the crowd, he almost forgets that everyone in the room were once normal human beings and have now been trapped in an endless time loop for 30 years.

One of the many creatures spits out his drink on the floor, almost getting some on Alistair's shoes. "Fabulous..." He shuddered, looking at the duck beaked man in the eyes and letting out a disgruntled smile.

The Party's nice and all, but he doesn't want to lose sight of his mission. So, Alistair decides to sway his hips to the beat to get into the mood, channeling his inner frat boy, while still keeping an eye out for anything that could help them get out of this freak show as fast as possible. "Hey!" He waves to the Zebra DJ, who reluctantly waves back. "Sick Jam! Keep up the good work!" Alistair gives him a thumbs up, in which Alistair couldn't decide whether it was meant to be a nod or him nodding his head to the beat.

"Alistair!" Elidia whispers, already grabbing her own pair of yellow roller skates and riding up to him, starting to dance with him. "I found a note." She took a note from her skirt pocket, reading it aloud. "Question the workers, and blame it alcohol."

"If I stay here any longer, I'm gonna get pissed at the pop culture references." He mumbled, brushing some hair out of his face. So far, he had done everything the notes had said, so why stop listening to their paper masters now?

So, he scanned the room and even the ceiling and other places that the creatures might've hidden in, all in the hope of finding someone to talk to (and possibly kill), eliminating the two people making out in the corner, and obviously eliminating the DJ whom he just spoke too. That Zebra was way too nice for them to be someone suspicious. He considered the bartender but seeing Bear walking up to the bar made him think that Bear had it covered. Even though the note told them to consider everyone a suspect, he still had morals. So, he looked around for someone to possibly question, but as soon as he saw the pack of dogs gambling in the corner, he decided to join in.

Time to show these _Mutts_ who a _true_ gambler is.

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

"Can I have a sip?" Bear asks.

Bear decides that throughout all of this torture (even though that other's might've gone through worse than him), he should at least start living his best life, and going to a bar is the best chance to find some happiness in this abysmal existence. The '80s are supposed to fun! Why not enjoy the fun? So, he manages to wiggle his way through the crowd of creatures and up to the bar and get himself some celebratory drinks. After all, he deserves it after losing to Maria in that intense round of chalkboard bingo. So, he decided to reward himself for his 'good deeds'.

"Sure." The nearby Tiger boy says, making a little shrug toward Bear. The tiger man looks surprisingly interested in a little mouse boy (even if he was disguised), But Bear's too high off of the aesthetic to care. He flashes a suave yet somewhat quiet smile at Bear, and he just blushes as he takes the longest sip in the world on an unknown drink he _probably_ shouldn't have drunk.

"Damn!" He shouts, holding his head. He doesn't know exactly _why_ it hurts, but he just knows that as soon as he took a sip, his whole brain just exploded into a thousand pieces. "That's _really_ strong! What type of drink is that?"

"Meh," He shrugged, taking another sip on the drink. Normally, Ber would refuse to drink again after somebody else, due to how much Saliva could've been accumulated, but he was willing to take a few chances. "A hint of bloody mary, a dash of champagne, a pinch of wine and a _whole_ lot of Vodka." He placed his drink on the counter. "Anyway, where you from?"

 _Is he flirting with me?_ He asked himself, starting to giggle. "Ok," He sighed. "I'll play. I was born in Japan, moved to Shanghai, then came to Ohio for school, then finally moved to New York."

"You're quite the Globetrotter." He laughed. He then turned over to the frog-headed bartender and shouted, "Hey! Flippers!"

"Yes?" The Frog responded, rather annoyed.

"Get me and my friend 2 Martini's, Won'tcha?" He asked, winking at Bear.

Bear suddenly felt flustered. He had only met this imposing Tiger man a few minutes ago, and now not only has he ordered him a drink, but he also started engaging in conversation. If this man was gay, then bear was never going to look back from this experience. But yet again, he had a mission. And that mission was to figure out something about the Rat Queen lady, find out where she is, and hopefully when he returns with the information, the others that decided not to come to the bar with them (even though he had involuntarily signed Alistair, Maria, and Elidia) would be back with a weapon so they could just leave the place already. He was already missing the third season of Riverdale, and he absolutely _had_ to catch up.

"So..." He straightened his back and cleared his throat. "How did you..." He looked at him up and down, giving him a little bit of time to realize what he was asking.

"To be honest..." He sighed, not bothering to take an extra sip to get his emotions up. "I can barely remember the day it happened. All I know is that the rat lady came out of nowhere and stabbed me. Then, I woke up as a tiger." He said, showing Bear his massive paws. "What I do remember is my girlfriend..." His expression loomed over, as Bear suddenly felt a bit pissed that he had flirted with him.

No letting his emotions take over him, he continued to question him. "Your girlfriend?" he asked, choking back the feeling to punch him in the gut. "What happened to her?" He probably _shouldn't_ have tried to dig into his emotions, but nobody really gave a shit about anything in the '80s.

"I ate her." He responded. "She was turned into a meerkat, and I ate her alive."

Bear suddenly felt uneasy as the pit of his stomach twisted itself into the shape of a knot. At first, he thought that when the Rat Queen had started to turn people into animals, he assumed that it only changed their outward appearance and that they had possibly still remained human. But that was clearly not the case. Clearly, turning people into animals meant unlocking their animalistic characteristics, and with Bear being disguised as a mouse, he realized why he had been offered the drink. He _knew_ why he began to flirt with him. So, he came to the dark realization that... _oh no._

"I have to go." He stood up, getting out of his drunken fantasy.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Suddenly, he latched his powerful paws onto Bear's wrist, keeping him standing in place, unable to move. His claws dug into his skin, refusing to let him go with all his might. "The party's just getting started!"

"I said I need to _go_." Bear finally managed to break free from his strong grip, wringing his wrist and making sure that it hadn't been fractured.

He heard someone have a stomach ache. If that stomach ache hadn't sounded like a tiger, he probably wouldn't have turned around the way he did. But still, Bear whipped his head around to see the tiger now on all fours, licking his lips as if he was about to pounce. This time he noticed it wasn't a stomach ache, and instead of a low growl. He whipped around, looking for someone to help him or for something before he maybe got eaten alive, but nobody and nothing came to him in his time of need.

Except for the frog.

The frog suddenly brought out a large wooden tube, slipping a tranquilizer dart with bright green liquid inside. Except, he did it with such calmness as if this had been a constant occurrence in the bar. So, he placed his mouth on the tube, trying his best not to let it slip through his slimy flippers, and as soon as the tiger was about to pounce on him...

 **THUD.**

Bear looked at the Tiger, suddenly freezing within mid-pounce, his eyes getting rapidly heavier as every second ticked by. He started to drool, still holding an angry yet sleepy complexion at Bear. Within 10 seconds, he was on the floor, sleeping as if he was a baby with a warm bottle of milk in a Gucci crib. Bear looked up at the frog, who just smiled before handing him his drink.

"Thanks." He smiled, pushing the drink back, "But I think I've had enough alcohol for one night."

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

"What's going on?" Alistair asked, slipping himself into an open chair, already with a pack of cards laid out before him. The people at the table didn't accept him as well as he had hoped. "We're playing poker?" Alistair had felt as if he was in a bit more of an outrageous mood today, so why not have some fun? After all, he wasn't about to stumble into a super packed bar and do nothing besides be a detective all night. He had more sense than that.

"You've got a lot of nerve sitting here _Feild Rat_." ONe of the dogs at the table grumbled, baring his Doberman teeth at him.

Alistair bit back the insults he was more than prepared to give and shortened them into little piles and files inside his thoughts. "Listen, I come from the big city, and I've played cards multiple times." He shrugged, pretending as if the Dogs at the table didn't throw harsh glares at him. "Not to mention..." Alistair knew that whether you were human or animal, you were always attracted to something shiny. So, he threw his silver watch, and his wallet, which was full of hundreds of dollars on him that he carried wherever he went, just for safety purposes.

"Well, Well." The Head Honcho titled up his fedora, revealing his menacingly adorable bulldog face. "The Feild mouse wants to play a couple of reindeer games, huh?" It was obviously a rhetorical question, but it wasn't like anybody was paying attention to anything besides his cash. "Fine, You versus me."

All of the dogs went into a howl, as Alistair did not let his pride be shaken that easily. "Well, of course, we could make a wager."

The dogs silenced, as they eyed Alistair as if he was insane. But, nobody dared to make a move until their boss had the say so. So, the boss slouched back into his chair and took a long drag on his cigar. "Okay then, If I win, I get all the money _and_ whatever other valuables you have on you." His mouth twisted into a clearly devious smile as he suspected Alistair to quit.

Alistair skipped to the chase. "If I win, you answer me 3 questions about the Rat Queen."

The dog contemplated the situation, as his fellow dogs went silent. Alistair wasn't the kind to be kept waiting. So, he started counting off the time the bulldog had left to think. "Going Once...Going Twice..."

"Fine." He grumbled, everyone else taking their belongings of the table. "You're daring for a mouse. What did you say your name was again?"

Alistair wasted no time, and quickly answered the question, and skipped to another one of his own. "Alistair. So, what are we playing?" He grinned, watching as the dog didn't give an answer. "We could always play Oh, Hell."

"Oh, Hell's my specialty!" He laughed, patting his own back. "You've just made a deal with the devil!" He snapped his fingers, getting one of his dogs to pass out 3 cards to each of the 2 species, quickly retreating to the bathroom. Clearly, it was intended to be a quick and easy game. So, he quickly slapped a 9 of spades on the table, chuckling to himself as if he had just won the lottery. "Beat that."

And in fact, he did, smacking a King of Spades on the table. "Boom."

The dog shot a dirty look at him, before resuming to place his second card on top, bringing it back to an eight of diamonds. Of course, this would've concerned Alistair within a variety of situations, but when he placed a nine of hearts, he shed no sweat towards his opponent. And clearly, the dog got angrier with how lucky Alistair had gotten since they both had only about one left after his play.

So, he watched as the animal growled like the creature he was and grinned as he placed 2 cards down. He knew that this was cheating, or he was just stupid. Of course, since Alistair had presumed that the dog knew nothing about the game and was lying to him, he then placed his final card on top, knowing that it would beat the whole game. So, he looked at the Animal's King & Queen of spades and tried to build up a sweat to make all of them think he was about to lose, and by the looks of it, it had already started working.

"You gonna quit, boy?" He asked, his grubby hands already reaching for his prize.

"Nope." Alistair's sweat retracted back into his head, and as if you were watching one of those overdramatic anime scenes, he quickly slapped the card down onto the table, as the Bulldog's mouth dropped in a mixture of shock, anger, and what Alistair assumed was constipation. A dead silence suddenly reeked over the table, as the Dog soon twisted into a smile.

"Huh," He chuckled, suddenly shaking Alistair's hand. "I am a man of my word, you get three questions."

Alistair suddenly grew into a smile as well, as he cleared his throat and straightened his back as to make himself look more professional. "First question, how did she turn you into animals?" He asked.

Thankfully, the dog was willing to answer his question. "Well, If ya really wanna know..." He began, nestling himself into his armchair. "She uses a certain drug she likes to call "Creaturario Juice" and uses it to inject it into the humans. A small dosage should be enough to turn them into an animal, but a medium dosage would make them fully animalistic. A full dosage would kill you."

Alistair was fairly concerned, so he used his question as a follow-up. "Has there been any search for an antidote?"

"Of course!" He slapped his leg, taking amusement his question. "When I was amongst the first 50 people to become animals, our numbers soon went down to 15 because they were searching for an antidote! If they got caught, they'd become the Rat Queen's next meal."

 _Oh shit, she doesn't play games._ He shuddered to himself, and instead continued with the last question. "How do I trap her?"

"You don't trap her." He blurts out. "She comes to you. She has eyes all over her domain, and if you really want her to come to you, you'll see her." He nodded, his face twisting into a grim smile. "Dead or Alive is up to her."

"Thanks!" Alistair smiled, standing up. He began to leave before the voice of the Bulldog brought him back to the table.

"I never thought I'd see the day that a mouse would try to kill The Rat Queen." He grinned, looking at Alistair with a smile. "The Name's Richard, hope we see each other again soon."

Alistair smiles back, leaving his money on the table. "There you can have it."

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

"Whose house is this?!" Maria shouted at the top of her lungs, throwing her hands into the air.

You may be wondering, Maria, What the Hell are you doing? And she would answer that she was finding clues. However, if she was being realistic, her brain would say that she was having fun, living her life, and was totally ignoring the mission but instead started gambling with a pack of fellow female felines. She would've felt uncomfortable, but she was too much in a daze to notice all of the felines staring at her like a snack.

"You've been cheating!" One of the felines shouted. She was a sleek black cat with her matching black hair tied back in a short ponytail. "How could you be this good?"

"College, Bitch!" Maria responded. "Fricken College!"

The cat mumbled some curse words under her breath before shrugging. Maria stuck her tongue out like a child before taking her earnings and stuffing them all in her purse. She happily nodded before jumping off the table and walking away, feeling rather proud of herself for the night. That was until she caught Elidia staring at her in disgust.

"Gambling?" She asked, clearly annoyed. "Really?"

"What?!" Maria asked, throwing her hands up into the air for protection. She didn't really see what Elidia's problem was! She was just being such a buzzkill all of a sudden. "What's the matter?"

"How could you even _think_ of gambling at a time like this?" Elida retorted, crossing her arms.

Maria tried to stand her up, even though she was noticeably shorter than the photographer that stood before her. It wasn't like height mattered at the moment, however, because Maria was noticeably getting angrier. "I don't get what your problem is!" She shouted, clearly being an angry drunk. "I'm trying to live my best life through this Hellhole and you take it upon yourself to be some buzzkill!"

Maria realized what she had said, as Elidia's face twisted into one of sadness and disappointment. "I'm just trying to make sure that we don't die."

Maria reached out her hand, wanting to say something, but instead she choked on her own dialogue. "I...I...I" What would she say? That she was _sorry_? No. She wasn't apologetic about what she had said. Not one bit...Yet, some part of her was sorry. She wasn't one of the apologetic types at first sight, but get to know her, and even you would tell her to stop saying sorry, even if she hadn't done anything wrong. So, she just stood there, watching Elidia drag her very fashionable heels away from her, leaving her to be there all alone.

"Hey." A female voice sounded from behind her.

Maria whipped her head in shock, nearly having a heart attack. Not only was the woman a sleek figured poodle, but she also looked almost sad at the little mouse standing before her. "I see your girlfriend got pissed."

"She's not my girlfriend." She grumbled.

"Listen." She said, getting on the same 5'6 level as Maria. "Let's get this straight." There was such a deep tone of seriousness that resided in her voice, that Maria felt compelled to listen to this mysterious poodle woman. "I know that you're looking for information on the Rat Queen so that way you can kill her ass." She then stood up, towering Maria at probably the same height as Alistair once more. "And I want in."

"Who told you?!" She gasped, not bothering to try and say what she was claiming was nothing but lies.

"You don't think I saw your blue haired friend flirt with the cannibal, your tall friend playing cards with the biggest gang here, _and_ noticed that your costumes look like shit?" She asked, almost dying of laughter. "You're dumber than a pile of rocks."

"Thanks..." Maria grumbled.

"Listen, if you want to question someone, then you gotta question the guards!" She exclaimed, pointing to one of the guards in the corner. "The bouncers are too stiff, everybody in here's too drunk, but if you question the fox in the corner or at least flirt with him, he should spill the beans about where you can find her." She pointed toward the shirtless man in the corner, standing next to the bathroom.

"Why should I trust you?" She asked. She didn't _exactly_ mean to be rude, but she knew that something had to be done. She could've been trying to set her up and possibly kill her, just like what happened to everybody else here.

"Because she's had her fair share of male concubines in the past."

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

Elida's head's been scrambled for the past 5 minutes from each of the members in her group reporting back to her with the most confusing shit she's ever heard. Bear's rambling on about a cannibalistic tiger, Alistair's talking about this drug that she's never heard of, But she's more or less focusing on Maria on the information of who to ask, and a phrase of words suddenly snatches her out of her mind.

"You have to seduce him!" She shouts.

Everyone went silent. However, that silence didn't last for long. With a few seconds passing, Alistair started rolling on the floor with a large amount of laughter, with Bear joining with him. "HER?!" He spat out, clutching his chest. "SHE'S FLATTER THAN A PIECE OF CARDBOARD!"

"Thanks..." She muttered, looking back at Maria. "But he does have a point. I have no Sex Appeal." She pointed herself up and down.

"You just gotta believe in yourself!" She smiled, suddenly yanking her arm with an unforeseen strength into the girl's bathroom. It was so quick, she barely saw Alistair and Bear still laughing up a storm. But once she was dragged inside, she was sat on the floor, while Maria spilled a bunch of makeup out of the many zippers that adorned her jacket. "You're more of an autumn..."

"What the Hell Maria?" Elidia asked. "Why do you have so much makeup? And WHY did you bring me here?" She had multiple questions, but she decided that it was for the best to keep them inside her brain for the moment.

"That's easy silly!" She picked out a few colors, mixtures of Red, Orange, Bronze, and Gold. She scattered them all over the floor, placing the rest of the rainbow back into her pockets, seeming to try and put them in specific places. "You said you have no sex appeal! So all we have to do is stuff your bra, put on some makeup, and maybe fix that horrific thing on your head you call your hair..." Maria physically shuddered at the thought of it, which Elidia ignored to due to the fact of listing ways how to kill her. "And then all you have to do is seduce him, take the gun, then Bam! Problem solved!"

With her mouth practically wide open, Elidia sat there dumbfounded. "Maria, how is that plan going to fuc-" She paused, taking a moment to take in the legitimacy of the plan. "Wait..." She placed a finger on her chin, pointing at Maria. "You may be on to something!"

Maria just smiled and let out a girly giggle, suddenly turning Elidia into a living mannequin. She grabbed some tissues from her jeans and started stuffing them away into her bra with a ravenous speed. She then used some Shoulder pads to give them extra "volume" and proceeded to try and make Elidia look like a barbie. She combed Elidia's hair, taking out a bedazzled brush that loosened up her hair, in which she used her tactic of taking makeup brushes and wrapping them around Elidia's hair, placing them there for about 5 minutes until they were fully curled to perfection. She then applied a mixture of gold and orange eyeshadow, some light red lip gloss, and applied some mascara to her face, eventually leading her to the mirror. Elidia couldn't lie, Maria had made her 20 times prettier on so many levels, it was hard to specify whether she was to punch her and rub it off, or thank her.

"Look at my new project!" She smiled, shoving Elidia face-first out the door. Turns out, Alistair and Bear were right in front of her, and when she turned to them, Bear shouted "YAS!" Like a crazy person, and Alistair's cheeks reddened tenfold. "Isn't she beautiful?"

"She actually is..." Alistair admired her, taking her hand. "Now seduce him."

"Wait!" Maria shouted, just as soon as Alistair was about to take her off with him. "You have to take this!" Maria handed the gun secretly to Elidia, and placed it in the strap at the back of the bar, putting a safety thing on it to make sure Elidia didn't actually shoot herself in the back. "For just in case purposes."

Elidia nodded, as she took a deep breath. She strutted toward the Fox in the corner, which was more like an uncomfortable model trying to balance herself on a tightrope wearing 10-inch-heels. Thankfully, the fox that it was sexy and wasted no time wrapping his arms around her waist and tried to clench his hands onto her butt as if it was a piece of fine wine. "Hey, babe..."

 _Shit,_ She thought to herself, gagging internally. _Is he for real?_ "Hey..." She batted her eyelashes and threw her hair back.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing in a run down place like this?" Elidia wanted to deny the fact that she was blushing, but it was far too late for that. "I can already see your turning read. Matches the color scheme."

"Hey..." She ran her finger down his chest. "Why don't we go outside and..." She winked, letting his mind do all the work for her.

Clearly, the tactic was proven to effective. The man simply nodded as a response, as she walked away, still dragging his finger across his shoulders. Once he had started to follow her behind the building, she had made sure that he was in a little corner, before slamming him onto the door, Maria, Bear, and Alistair popping up behind her like The Weird Sisters and her pointing a gun at chest.

"What's going on?" He asked, fairly bewildered.

"You just got your weave snatched by the badass squad." Bear leaned forward, placing his arm on Elida's shoulders and promptly flipping off the terrified fox man. "Taste the rainbow."

Ignoring her feeling to laugh, she turned her attention back to the fox"Okay, _Bitch,_ You have 1 minute to tell me why I shouldn't shoot your ass right damn now." She snapped her fingers.

"Ok! Ok!" He shouted, his eyes looked as if he was almost ready for her to shoot him. Looking at him, she almost felt bad that she was about to possibly kill him. "What do you want to know? I'll say anything! Just _Please_ don't kill me!" He pleaded, starting to sweat like crazy. Elidia was pretty sure that this weak link wasn't the guy that she was talking to earlier.

"Where is the Rat Queen?" Silence came from him, and Elidia was done with his shit. "TELL US!"

"Ok! Ok!" He sweated as she turned back to Maria, who had the sliest grin on her face you've ever seen in your entire life. Alistair had his arms crossed, glaring at him with an intense sort of anger, while BEar looked as if he was ready to explode with his rare Sailor Mouth. "She...She lives in her giant statue! Ok?! Can you let me go now?!"

Elida didn't even have to ask which Giant statue he was talking about, before a mechanical whirr shuddered off in the distance, ending up with her getting so terrified, she physically jumped and shot the man square in the throat. Of course, she looked back and didn't feel any emotion, because of her attention that had changed to the statue. Not so far off in the distance, there was a giant statue of a red-haired rat wearing about an 18th Century dress and petticoat, that suddenly turned into a giant robot, and stood up. The whole statue was dotted with cracks, dirt, and streaks of blood, symbolizing that this wasn't the first time it had been used. Of course, it looked terrifying, making Elidia drop the gun in shock. And it was terrifying enough to turn around...

And lock her eyes on them.

* * *

 **Author's Note!  
** So, the amazing squad of whom I think are my favorite characters to write so far have just gotten caught by a mechanical statue! Fun! Now we get to see even _more_ pain and suffering! Isn't the Escape the Night Fandom just _amazing?!_ Anyway, this is such a long chapter, but it did take awfully long to get out due to me having to edit so much! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this 5,000-word chapter of alcohol, while I must excuse myself into a little corner and go on my hands and knees thinking about why Writer's block is such a jerk to me! Bye!


	10. Guns, Poison, and Plain Insanity

**Author's Note!  
** Wow, I've been feeling under the weather lately so I'm sorry this didn't come out as early as I wish it had. Also, I took a small break for the holidays and for finals, so I had a little bit of writing withdrawal and Writer's block. I'm still feeling sick but don't worry, I'll get through it! Anyway, this chapter is yet again another long one and at this rate, viewers are going to question my sanity (which I do to myself already). As you see, I may have tried to messily cover up my mistake of calling his Jason instead of Jasper in one sentence, but hey! There's a new headcanon now! Also, this chapter is much shorter than the others, because I felt the need to get it out quickly. I'm sorry if it seems a bit clunky. Anyway, I hope you enjoy all of my pain and suffering and Enjoy the freshest part in _Escape The Night, The First Act!_

* * *

Chapter 9: Guns, Poison, and Plain Insanity

* * *

Amidst all the chaos, there's strangely a twinge of comfort.

Ross ended up carrying Rice after it turned out all of the rats were set free. So, in a hurry, he picked her up in his arms and rushed her inside the warehouse along with everybody else inside the building. Even though they were trapped in a literal Hell, Ross was enjoying being a superhero. Not only is he rescuing a damsel, but it's from an evil super-villain as well! It was like the Lord had given him a sign and he was going to take it. Even though he had a pretty damn good chance that he or she was going to die amidst that hell.

So there he is, looking around the run down building. Out of all the happy and upbeat buildings with very wonky color schemes in the carnival, this building is the dirtiest and simplistic. Shaped like a barn, the small red warehouse had paint peeling like a face mask. Multiple termites were crawling up the endless wooden foundations on the only cracks of light were the holes that the creatures had so thankfully created for the group. Even if it had some point been a warehouse, it was clear that this building hadn't been used for an awfully long time. Heck, even if you squinted at it for long enough, you still couldn't tell that it had even been a warehouse, or anything else, in the first place.

"It's a miracle this place isn't falling at the seams." Christie inquired, dragging her finger across one of the support beams, ending up with a fingertip completely caked in dark-colored dust. "It looks as if its been here for decades."

"I think we're supposed not to focus on architecture and instead focus on the fact that we are in a murderous carnival completely surrounded by disease-ridden creatures and a murderous queen," Adam complained, pressing his long fingers against his pale forehead. By the looks of it, Ross could tell that he was clearly annoyed to the highest extent.

"Right," Helena clasped her sweaty palms together, finally stepping back into leader mode. Ross knew that it was time to move out of her way when he tied her hair once again into a neat ponytail. She started scanning around the room with the tip of her fingernail, finally pointing to a broken table in the corner. She turned back to Ross, smiling like a Madwoman. "Hey Ross, Do you think you can pick up the table and go grab the duct tape on top of the cupboard? Thanks." She then resumed collecting random things within the crowded warehouse (Which was more like an oversized storage closet), managing to hold them all within her arms.

"What for?" Shima asked. Normally, Ross knew her as the one not really to talk, but now she'd acquired this mystique to her that he couldn't help but respect.

Helena then proceeded to ignore Shima's question, yet answering it at the same time by slamming a book on the table. That spooked Rice off of the barrel of ale that Ross had kindly placed her on, which almost made Ross flinch to catch her in the fall that never occurred. She continued to scan the pages before slamming her finger down. "Just as I thought."

"What do you mean just as you thought?" Nova asked.

"The Rat Queen is a _humanoid_ ," She responded. "That means she's not fully animal. Which means, you can't just kill her like a normal animal," She continued to read the page, finally showing the group what she had been reading. "It says the Rat Queen never made an antidote, but her concoction made her animals invincible to every single weapon imaginable...except one."

"What was that?" Rice quivered. Ross took this as his chance and proceeded to wrap his hand around her as if he was attempting to shield her from whatever Helena was going to utter. It couldn't be _that_ bad. Like, I must've made them able to be killed by rocks, or technology. Even though it was the 80's and there was a particular weapon that had become extremely _popular...Oh no._ There was no way in _Hell_ that she was going to make them create that...right?

All of Ross's hopes were dashed on a rock, his mental defeat making a sickening crunch as Helena formed a deviously mischevious grin. "Guns."

═════ ✥.❖.✥ ═════

At first, Jason (Which everyone had mistakenly called him, even though his name was Jasper. Simple mistake) had a buttload of respect for Helena, even beginning to call her a super hot badass. But then that respect decided to transform itself into an indescribable form of fear. At first, he just dismissed it for hormones. Now, it's transformed into something that he can recognize. He can recognize that she is insane. Borderline _fucking_ insane. There was clearly no doubt about it. And now, watching her preach about a bunch of college students making a weapon, he decided he would rather face the Rat Queen's wrath before having to spend another moment with the psychopathic softball player.

"You want us to create a GUN?!" Jason shrieked.

"Oh, Not just that!" Jason could hardly believe what Helena was saying. It almost made him want to pinch himself to try and make him wake up from this very clear nightmare. "We're going to create a gun and a poison that we'll disguise as an antidote!" She smiled. "I know I may or may not be scaring you, but I've got to assure you everything is-"

"I'm in." Adam shrugged. Jason whipped his head to Adam, rubbing his neck due to the whiplash that flew into his neck. He was shocked at how the stone cold Adam had suddenly agreed to something so insane. "My dad's hunted a lot before, and I think I'll be able to handle making something. It'll have to be makeshift though."

"You all sound legit insane." Shima sighed. "But I assume desperate times require desperate measures."

Jason heard the world slowly crumble around him like the Ruins of Rome. If his mindset of everything just being a crazy coincidence wasn't going to work anymore, then he would have to have a deep consultation with Alistair on his definition of a good time. He watched as everyone whom he somewhat enjoyed having around slowly fell into the insanity of the carnival. It was almost as if the entire world had stopped, giving him time to try and recognize the pain that they had decided to drag his supposed friends into.

"There are some broken guns in the left corner. Maybe you can craft a new one out of one of those?" Helena asked Adam. Adam shrugged as response and she muttered something to herself before snickering about spiders. She then turned to snap at Ross with a boss-like physique. "Ross, Where's the table I requested? Chop Chop!"

Everyone flew into a frenzy. With Elidia gone, Helena was taking charge, and Jason had to admit that it was actually really hot. Even though her boobs were clearly showing through that two-piece, that didn't make him fall to her wishes. So, he defiantly sat himself down on a nearby barrel of gunpowder and crossed his arms like a small child. "No."

Helena snapped her neck to Jason like an owl, her eyes burning with a wave of indescribable anger. " _What?_ "

"I said no." He began to cross his arm and clench them even further, even turning his head away to avoid her gaze. Even though he had turned his head away from her, that doesn't mean his neck was safe from the lasers he was aiming at his neck. "You're not my mom. You're not even at the same social standing as I."

And with that, Helena kindly walked up to him and brushed his hair away. Strangely, Jason saw no problem with her available hand curling into a fist, as he was focusing on her approaching lips toward his face. Throughout all the years of his father teaching him that a Lady's looks were everything, he had finally scored himself a maiden who can defend him. So, he slowly unbuttoned his shirt as he leaned in to touch her lips...

He then got a sucker punch to the face.

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Jason really should've known better than to disrespect the queen that was Helena Veronica, and now she had to teach him a lesson. Some of them just never learn, and now she had to show them that she had the ruling authority as the goddess over all the degenerates in the room and that they were all peasants inside of her grande rule. Of course, she would never say this out loud because she was still a considerate human being, but they have to remember where they stand. And sometimes, it takes a little push-Or punch, to do it.

"Never speak to me like that again, Bitch." She hissed, shooting Jason a murderous glare.

Jason's eyes widened in surprise as he rubbed his cheek. Did he _Really_ expect Helena to be as weak as some of the other females here? No, she was a proud feminist, and she acted like it. He stared at Helena, almost as if he was going to attack, but he just sat there, dumbfounded. It was almost as if Helena had given him his first butt whooping in his entire life.

So, everyone got to work. It as if for the first time during the whole night, they had actually united together. Ross, Nova, and Kenneth all helped piece the table back together so they could craft upon it. Adam & Austin started scrapping inside the building for metal parts to craft the gun. And like some sort of duo of mad scientists, Christie & Shima were already gathering old items to create a formidable poison. Of course, they could only scavenge things like baking soda and such, but anything would do. Rice & Crystal were using their jewelry to help make small detailed bullets, in which they could slip the poison inside a glass container, surrounded by golden and silver parts. Of course, they were making more than one, but it was fine.

Jason still sat on the barrel, while Adam sometimes grabbed a dusty old cup off of the nearby bookshelf to pump himself a glassful, in which a lot of the other people joined in as well. Of course, they were too busy being commanded by Helena while she constantly encouraged to others to even get the least bit drunk, but during this, they all shared stories and random encounters, when a feeling of love and togetherness filled up the room. You could even say that they were a big happy family amidst all of this torture.

Everything was working as fit as a fiddle. Everyone was ignoring the cloud of impending doom shadowing over them and instead decided to focus on the brighter things. Everyone began to use their talents to good use and continued to be all working towards the same collective goal. To get the _hell_ out of there. Yes, everything was going great in Helena's mind and nothing could go wrong-

"Hey, Hells?" Austin asked. Back in college, they were called the 'Heaven and Hell Duo', which was a suitable name, considering all the times she and Maria got drunk in college. Austin would always be there to help her with a hangover.

"What is it?" She asked, turning away from Adam giving the two girls craftmanship tips on how to craft a bullet that not only will release poison but shatter on impact to make the Rat Queen bleed to death. She didn't expect any interruptions, and especially not from the soft-spoken Austin. So she turned over to him, smirking at the use of their timeless nickname.

"Just wanna say..." His face turned red. "You're a pretty great leader."

Of course, if Helena had heard this from just anyone, her ego would've welled up inside her and she would've made some pompous quip about how she's obviously superior. But, Austin just wasn't any normal person. Sure, he sometimes tripped over his words and found a way to make himself sound considerably ridiculous, but it was in a cute sort of way. Not a 'Be my boyfriend' cute, but an 'I'm happy I met them' cute. So, she just nodded and went back to her work, not considering the slight frown on Austin's face.

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It was a long, grueling 15 minutes, but by that time, everything was finished. With her petite hands, Rice carefully held the beautifully decorated bullet, while Christie carefully injected the blue glowing poison with a clouded syringe. Ross made sure that they had made more than one bullet, and when he dropped the 6 bullets into the gun and blasted one into the wall, he watched as it made a perfect ring, the wood burning with the poison. Of course, the reaction from their creation was mixed, most was a horrendous excitement.

"We did it!" Christie cheered, finally showing actual emotion to the group. "We actually did it!"

Adam was overly ecstatic. He was trying to keep his cool, but he was still struggling to stop himself from letting out a small smile. He could feel a sort of happiness welling up inside of him like an infection. It was as from creating a weapon, they had all bonded together. Yep, everything was great, everything was fine, and absolutely nothing could ever go wrong! Absolutely noth-

"FUCKING RUN." Alistair suddenly kicked the door down with his lanky legs, looking like he had just run straight out of the bowels of Hell. He was sweating like a pig, and Adam could clearly hear Maria's hysterical screaming in the background.

"Wh-Why?!' Rice asked, suddenly getting scared.

Alistair grabbed everyone and rushed them outside, leaving little bits of bruises on their arms. Well, he didn't get absolutely _everyone_ outside. By the time the first 5 people got outside, everybody took out screaming and running. Thankfully, Adam was the first person out and had enough time to see that there was a _giant_ walking statue of a woman wearing the largest dress he had ever seen. And she had gotten so close, she had gotten the strength to rip off the roof and throw it to the ground. Everyone took off running, while Adam got a final glimpse of a horrifying sight that loomed over the small warehouse.

He watched helplessly as his friends, Helena and Maria, were lifted into the air, and were dropped into the Giant woman's mouth, screaming their heads off as they fell at least 70 feet in the sky, clouded with a cloud of green colored smoke.

* * *

 **Author's Note!**  
Does the ending seem rushed? I think it's a bit rushed. I tried to get it out as soon as possible for you guys and I think I may have failed your expectations. I'm sorr but first I wasn't feeling well, then I had to study for finals, and then I had to take a break for the holidays, which is why I haven't updated in a while. I'll try not to take a break like that again, but I can't make any promises. I'll see you all soon!


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